What I've Done
by Uxiegirl
Summary: After the incident, Alice and her family had to move to Forks, where she meets a very mysterious Jasper Whitlock. All human. Incident NOT in Twilight series
1. MaryAlice

**Who loves Jazzy?**

**-Raises hand- Me! Me!**

**Who loves Alice?**

**-Raises hand- Sure! Why not?**

**Who loves stories of them together?**

**-Raises hand- Of course!**

**Then you're in the right place.**

**This is going to be freaking awesome; I assure you that. Does it have a plot? Roughly…No. Not really. But it'll just show up as I go along, with as much requests as you want to give! Really. Please. I need requests.**

**We're going to start in Alice's point of view; don't ask me why. She's human, by the way. Just in case you're, uh…wondering.**

_Days left until school starts: 7_

I looked at myself in the mirror with a sigh, thoughts running through my head at lightning speed. Questions, mostly; questions I'd been thinking for months. _Can I change? Will I fit in? Will I finally be popular? _But mostly, _Will they recognize me?_

What I did at my old school last year made national news – worldwide – and I was scared that even here in Forks they would know who I was and what I did. I didn't want that to happen; I knew I had to do something. Get a new hairstyle, a pair of sunglasses, change my name.

_Change my name…_

It was just crazy enough to work. I'd never liked my name that much anyway. It was plain, overused. It showed absolutely no personality. It was just Mary. Not Maria or Mary-Anne, or Marybeth, or Marietta, or anything. Just Mary.

All I had to do now was find another name that I liked better. That wouldn't be hard, of course, considering I had Mary for a name, but it would be hard to find the perfect name, the one I wanted to go by for the rest of my life.

But what?

My little sister, Cynthia, poked her dark head through the door sadly. "Mary," she said sorrowfully. "Good morning." A little piece of my heart broke as I saw her expression. Ever since the incident, Cynthia had refused to talk to me at all, ashamed and saddened, just like everybody else who had ever come in contact with me. These were the first words I'd heard her speak in a long time.

"Good morning, Cindy," I said cheerlessly. "Say, I've been thinking I should change my name. You got any ideas?"

Cynthia shrugged. "I don't know," she said gloomily. "Alice?"

"Alice?" I echoed. "Why Alice?"

"Read it in a book," Cynthia said plainly. "The character sounded a bit like you, so…"

"Well, Cyn, I like it," I said, trying to let her know I appreciated her finally talking to me. "Alice sounds perfect."

"Yeah?"

"Of course,"

"Huh," Cynthia said. "You hated everything I did in L.A."

"That was L.A.," I said darkly. "This is Forks. I'm not going to be who I was before, Cindy. I'm going to try to be better this time. I won't let it happen again." Cynthia nodded.

"Well, let's hope so," she said.

"Where's Dad?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, he's avoiding us again. I think he went golfing."

"Golfing? Here?"

Cynthia shrugged. "Anything to get out of the house, Mare."

"Alice," I corrected.

"Right. Alice. That's going to take some getting used to," Cynthia muttered.

"Should we change your name, too?" I asked hopefully; Cynthia seemed so formal, and I'd been on her back about that for years.

"Oh, sure," Cynthia said dryly, "We'll just call me Ashley Burns."

My eyes narrowed. "We'll stick with Cynthia," I mumbled. Cynthia laughed.

"Of course we will," she said smugly. "Cynthia's an awesome name."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, kid. It's three syllables."

"Exactly. I've got more options; you're just stuck with two."

"Oh, ha-ha."

Even through this immature exchange, I knew Cynthia had matured miraculously since the incident. It was on her fifteenth birthday that it occurred, and she had been extremely upset about that. But I couldn't help myself…

Cynthia and I were like the North Pole and the equator. We had nothing in common, but we weren't polar opposites. Cynthia focused on reading and literature while I focused more on art. Cynthia never understood why I'd chopped off all my hair and donated it, even as I told her over and over that I didn't want the paint to get in my hair. Of course, that wasn't the real reason. I thought it made me look ugly with my pixie-like face.

However, Cynthia's face was slightly rounder and younger-looking, but with a maturity that let you know she was not to be trifled with. Her own hair was long and black, stretching down the length to her butt. It flowed easily and surely, and it was set to stay on Cynthia's head, no matter what you said or did.

"Hey, Cyn," I said suddenly, "Can I try something? Do you have plans for the rest of the day?"

Cynthia looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Oh…right," Neither of us had dared to leave the house since the incident, even though we were now in Washington. Dad thought this was crazy, but it didn't stop him from trying to be sociable here. "Well…can I paint you?"

"Paint me?" Cynthia echoed. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. Come on," I said brightly.

"Okay…it's just…you've never wanted to paint me before," Cynthia said slowly.

"That was before. This is now. So can I paint you or what?"

"Oh…sure. Of course, Mary." I stared at her. "Alice," she corrected. "Yeah…yeah…how long is it going to take?"

I began to set up my easel and take out my lucky pencil – it was just like a regular pencil, but with a rainbow-colored eraser instead of a pink one. "Um…I don't know. A few hours, I guess. Maybe the whole day."

"Oh…" I rolled my eyes.

"You can bring a book," I said dryly. Cynthia's face lit up.

"Thanks!" She ran off, her long, black hair flying behind her.

**Okay, thanks for reading everyone and anyone! Every single review here counts, so don't hesitate to click the beautiful, irresistible button below.**

**It calls your name…you look up, away from the computer, wondering where it came from. You look back at the page and at the button below and you think to yourself, "Should I?"**

**You should.**


	2. Forgotten

**Okay, there are no reviews. Yet. –stares coldly-**

**This chapter is in Jazzy's point of view, because he is awesome. He, too, is also human. His last name is Whitlock, because he's not really related to Rosalie whatsoever. Because people love making him related to her, simply because they both have blonde hair.**

**Yeah…anyway, I give you Jazz!**

_Days left until school starts: 6_

I sat up, cursing to myself as a searing pain shot through my head. This was the result of staying up late and chugging ten different energy drinks in five minutes.

After my headache went away, I crawled out of bed and looked in the mirror. I resisted a groan. I looked horrible; I always did. My eyes were red and bloodshot; my hair was sticking up everywhere. _Why…_

Thoughts raced through my mind, thoughts I'd thought every single time I'd looked in the mirror. It was usually questions; questions that would never have an answer. _How long until college? Am I dead yet? When will it be over? _And the most important: _Why did I have to be me?_

"Jasper," I jumped as my friend, Peter, poked his head in my room. "Whoa; sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"'S okay, Pete," I groaned, rubbing the sides of my head. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"What's the point of that?" he asked. I sighed and shook my head.

"Where's Char?" I asked, referring to my other friend, Charlotte that also lived with us.

"I don't know…shopping or something,"

I laughed. "Charlotte?" I repeated. "Shopping? You've gone crazy!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

Charlotte was less likely to go shopping than me, and I hated shopping. She had long, black hair with highlights in it that varied from purple to red to green depending on the occasion, and she was the toughest girl I'd ever seen. I was pretty sure that was why Peter liked her – I knew he wanted to date her, but since we lived together, it was too awkward. So instead, Peter and Charlotte were stuck with a childish crush on one another.

We were all orphans – Peter, Charlotte and I. Peter's parents had died when he was six, Charlotte's when she was nine, and I'd never even had any. So the three of us were being raised in the same house, by a woman named Maria, who was so strict, Peter peed his pants with fear once, but she was out of the house so often, it wasn't that hard.

"What about Maria," I said. "Where's she off to this time?"

"Uh…" Peter thought about it, and then snapped his fingers. "I've got it! She's taken Charlotte somewhere." I raised my eyebrow.

"Why?"

"I don't know…mother-daughter bonding or something."

"No, really." I said with a grin.

"I don't know! I'm not Mr. Egghead." We laughed, and I winced from my headache, which had just come back.

"Remind me not to stay up all night with you anymore," I said, rubbing my temples.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. But school's starting up soon, and we have to make our remaining days last."

"Uh-huh. Can we do that and still stay mentally stable?"

Peter shrugged. "I don't know," he mumbled. "Depends on what I come up with. Come on; I'll go make you some tea."

"Kay," I said, following him out of my room. "You've become a real wuss in the kitchen; you know that?"

"Hey, somebody's got to get some meat on your bones," Peter pointed out. "Maria's too busy, and we know Charlotte won't. And you're too stubborn to make yourself anything. Who does that leave?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I said, waving my hand dismissively. "You're still a wuss." Peter scowled but said nothing; instead he set out to make us both breakfast.

"You want eggs?" he asked.

"Whatever," I sighed. "So what're we going to do today?"

"I don't know. I'm thinking when Charlotte's back, we can work on the band."

"I don't really call Charlotte's mediocre singing act, your terrible drumming, and my guitar a band. We don't even know any songs."

"Exactly! That's why we need to work on the band!"

I sighed. Peter.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Okay, what do we call ourselves?" Peter asked for the umpteenth time. Everybody who'd ever been in the band business knew that they needed the perfect name for their band, and we'd never come up with one.

"How about Peter and the Idiots?" Charlotte muttered.

"Ah, but that would make me the smart one and you two the idiots," Peter said knowledgably. Charlotte rolled her eyes, and I nearly echoed her. They were so into each other.

"I think we should call ourselves Maria," Peter said sarcastically.

"Oh, sure, that'd blow over well," I muttered.

"Well, what're we going to call ourselves," Charlotte said irritably. "We've been debating this for years! Let's just pick a name already!"

"How about…" I thought for a moment. "Forgotten Package?"

"Huh?" Charlotte cocked her head in confusion.

"You know…" I suddenly felt immensely embarrassed, and I felt myself turn a deep shade of red. "Never mind. It's stupid; I know."

"I like it," Peter piped up.

"Yeah…it's good," Charlotte added. "But it needs some work."

"How 'bout just 'Forgotten?'" Peter suggested. "It fits, Char. You know it does."

"Yeah…yeah, I know." Charlotte was staring at me intensely.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"That was very…good," Charlotte said slowly, trying to find the right words. "It's just…I know it was hard for you to speak up about that name."

"Yeah," I said, but my voice sounded funny. We all knew where I'd gotten that name from, and it was me who fit the adjective the best.

**Okay; I hope you liked the chapter. And, by the way, he fits the name best because his parents left him on the doorstep, forgotten, and since he's been with Maria the longest, he's also a bit forgotten.**

**Pretty deep, huh?**

**All reviews are obligatory! Requests are welcome! I'm just going to play it day by day, doing a different POV for every day, but perhaps two days per chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!**


	3. Jasper Whitlock

**Okay! Thanks to ****DrediaTwilight and Megan Geyer for reviewing! I really appreciate it, and I hope you will continue to do so! This chapter is in Alice's point of view, because we will be alternating POV's until school starts. Their school. Not mine. Because (probably) by the time my school starts this story will be over. I work fast that way.**

**Anywho…well, I don't know. Just read.**

_Days left until school starts: 5_

I heard shouting in the distance, but I was too asleep to care. I was having such a wonderful dream. It was about somebody with blue eyes, standing in the back of someplace bright.

The shouting changed into a voice; two voices, and the voices formed words.

"Cindy, I can't take it anymore! You _have_ to get out of the house!" shouted my dad.

"But Dad, I can't leave Alice here alone!" shouted Cynthia.

"Alice?"

"Her new name. She doesn't want people recognizing her," Cynthia said quietly.

"Well, we can call her Jeremiah Smit for all I care! Just get out of the house, Cyn! _Please_!"

"No, not without Alice," said Cynthia quickly. I swore mentally. If she was going down, I was going down, too. Great.

"Well, you could at least _try_, Cyn," said my dad desperately. "I've been trying to get a new life here; I really have tried. Can't you try, too?"

"Not without Alice," Cynthia repeated slowly.

My dad groaned. "Fine! Take her with you; just get out of the house, please? I'll pay you; twenty bucks!"

The next thing I knew, I was awake and driving my sister to the town diner with twenty bucks in her pocket.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"So, uh…now what?" Cynthia asked slowly after we got there. I shrugged.

"No idea," I said honestly. "What is there to do at a diner other than eat?"

"Well, let's eat, then!" Cynthia said testily, dragging me by the arm inside the diner. I was surprised; Cynthia had always been timid and unwilling.

We got a table for two and ordered a couple sodas, because we really weren't hungry, and in walked a couple, arm in arm. The boy was blonde with boyish good-looks, and the other was also blonde, but in a peppy kind of way. I sipped my soda coyly.

The couple stopped and stared straight at Cynthia and me. "Excuse me," said the boy with a smile. "I don't believe we've met before. I'm Mike."

"Uh…Alice," I said, saying my name too fast.

"Cynthia," said Cynthia in a small voice.

"I'm Jessica," said the girl beside Mike with a snobbish look on her face. "Nice to meet you. Come on, Mikes, let's sit over there."

"You go on ahead, Jess, I just want to make sure these girls are comfortable," said Mike. Jessica scowled, but didn't protest, and went to go save a seat for them. Some girlfriend she was, I thought to myself.

"So…" Mike slid in next to Cynthia; she stared at him, wide-eyed. "What are you two lovely ladies doing here in Forks?"

Cynthia and I exchanged looks. Neither of us wanted to speak, but finally Cynthia said in a small voice, "We just moved here."

"Oh, really?" Mike looked intrigued; he leaned forward in anticipation. "How come?"

"We just felt like a change of scenery," I said cautiously. "You know; get away from the city-life."

Mike leaned forward more. "You lived in a city?"

"Um…yeah," I said slowly; he was kind of creeping me out now. "L.A."

"That must have been cool," he said eagerly.

"Not really," Cynthia said slowly. "It was really busy and it had too much traffic."

Mike furrowed his brow in frustration; we really weren't making this easy for him. I wanted to laugh at the look on his face, but I didn't want to attract any attention by becoming enemies with the 'popular guy', so I said as politely as I could manage before Mike came up with something else to say, "Thanks, Mike. I think we're all set now; thanks."

I could feel the atmosphere turn even more awkward as Mike slid out of the booth and stood up. "Yeah," he mumbled. "No prob." And he walked off with as hip of a walk as he could muster.

Cynthia and I exchanged stares, and we burst out in giggles. We tried to keep them quiet so that Mike wouldn't get mad or embarrassed, but it was really hard to do. Mike wasn't used to being dissed by a couple of girls from the city.

We were interrupted by the bell above the door of the diner ringing softly as three baffling beings stepped through.

One was male, awkward and tall, with shaggy, light brown hair and brown eyes. Following behind him was a really scary girl, with red highlights and an expression that said she really didn't want to be there. And the third. The third was the strangest of all. He was tall, but not as tall as the first boy, and he took steps that were slow and sure. There was a nonchalant expression on his face; a weary look in his eyes, an atmosphere of silence around him. His hair was blonde and everywhere, as though he hadn't brushed it in an eternity. His clothes were casual, but worn out, as though they'd been used by several people before himself. His face was scarred, but there was so many of them, it looked natural, and his eyes were a light blue.

They took my breath away.

I looked at Cynthia in bewilderment; I could tell she shared my dismay. "Whoa," she said a bit too loudly. The blonde glanced at her from the corner of his eye, but said nothing. I felt my cheeks flush.

The scary one and the tall one disappeared; I had no idea where, and I saw the blonde one lean against the wall at the back of the restaurant. _Like your dream…_ I thought to myself. But of course it had nothing to do with my dream. Dreams were…dreams. They meant nothing.

I felt his gaze on the back of my head as Cynthia and I sipped our sodas wordlessly. I didn't know how I knew he was staring at me, but I did, and I tried my best not to look at him.

"Alice," Cynthia said quietly after a while. "Why is that weird guy staring at you?" A strange anger flowed through me. How dare she call him weird? He was perfect! But I restrained it and whispered back, "I don't know."

"Well, he's freaking me out," she said to me. "I mean – I know they don't get new kids here often, but…"

I sighed. "You want me to go talk to him." It wasn't a question.

Cynthia nodded. "Please?" She honestly looked pretty scared of the blonde guy. I really, really, really didn't want to do this, but the look on my sister's face made me sigh and say,

"Okay." Cynthia grinned. "But you owe me." She nodded, not even listening anymore.

I got up and walked over to the blonde in the corner. It was then that I realized that I had no idea what to say. I mean, was I going to just say: 'Who are you looking at?' like some brat who hadn't gotten enough sleep last night?

When I reached him, I froze. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to speak up, because he obviously wasn't going to. So, after a few moments of awkward silence, I thrust out my hand. "Hi," my voice sounded strange. "I'm Alice Brandon."

He stared at my hand for a few moments and took it. "Jasper," he said slowly. "Jasper Whitlock."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"Likewise," he said.

More silence.

"So…uh…can I help you with something?" Oh, smooth, Alice, smooth, I thought dryly.

"Uh…what?"

Aw, great. "It's just that…I noticed you were looking at me, and, uh…" I absolutely sucked at talking to boys.

"Oh, sorry," he said, running a hand through his hair as if it would fix its tangles. "Thought you were somebody else." Silence. "Nice meeting you, though. Alice."

"Yeah, you too," I said, and walked back to Cynthia. I was really going to have to work on my speaking skills.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The whole day was agony. People kept walking up to us, giving us names to learn, faces to memorize, voices to know. And over and over we'd tell them our names and why we'd come. Though of course we didn't tell them exactly why we'd come. That would ruin the whole reason why we had come in the first place.

Through it all, there was only once name, one face, one voice that was stuck in my mind permanently. Jasper Whitlock.

He was such an interesting figure. The perfect size, the perfect face, the perfect eyes. He was an artist's dream.

When Cynthia and I finally got home, I walked wearily into my room, slamming the door with a bang. I opened my closet, which was filled with boxes that had yet to be unpacked. I pulled out the one I had marked with a red X so it wouldn't be lost, and I opened it. I dug inside, through the many good-luck charms and trinkets that I'd gathered throughout the years, until I found a notepad.

It wasn't just any notepad, of course. It was a special notepad, and I wasn't just saying this because I was one of those people who called everything special. This notepad had not only sketches I had made when I was small, but a single sketch drawn by my mother.

This was why I treasured it so.

I tenderly flipped through the amusing outlines of trees and flowers and butterflies until I finally came to a blank page. I went to my easel and took my lucky pencil, sharpened just so that it was not so pointy that it would break, but not as dull as to it could not be used, and I placed it on the notebook page and began to draw.

I didn't use my notepad for just anything. In fact, I hadn't touched it in years. I couldn't say why I felt that this particular drawing was special enough to go inside the notebook page when I'd passed up so many other great things I could put inside, and yet, it felt right.

With my best pencil in hand and best notebook on my lap, I knew this drawing couldn't go wrong.

Soon I would have the perfect drawing of Jasper Whitlock.

**All right! That was super-long in my standards. I was going to add Jazzy's POV for the next day, too, but I just don't feel like it. ;p**

**And, sadly, I cannot draw. I wish I could, because I really, really want to draw ideas for stories and stuff, but, sadly, I cannot. I can draw a somewhat decent girl in pigtails, and a rose, but other than that…**

**Anyway, that's why you'll see artists in my stories. Wish I was one, but I'm not. (Sigh) At least I have musical talent!**

**-Cricket cricket-**

**Well, I'm babbling. Don't want that! Just…just click the button below this message and type a message! And PM me if you have any requests/ideas or…anything, really. Or put it in a review! You know the deal.**


	4. Entertainment Gallery

**All right! Thanks to ****rburry01****,**** *8* Emmett's Angel *8*, and Megan Geyer for reviewing! I really appreciate it!**

**We're gonna go straight back to Jazzy, because we did Alice last time.**

_Days left until school starts: 4_

I was in my happy place–the land of dreams, where nothing makes sense and none of it comes true. I wanted to stay asleep for all eternity. In my lovely dream state I thought to myself, _was that possible? Can I sleep forever?_

But it all ended too soon. I felt my covers being pulled back, and I groaned at the disturbance.

"Oh, quit your complaining," Maria sighed. "You have to get adjusted to waking up early so you won't be completely exhausted for school."

I groaned again as I opened my eyes. I wanted to protest, more than anything. I wanted to punch Maria in the face so that I could sleep for just a few more moments. But I knew that wasn't an option, so I hauled myself out of bed and hurried to make sure Charlotte and Peter did the same. They hadn't been with Maria as long as I have, and they still didn't get that they had to do everything she said or there'd be consequences.

I'd learned that the hard way.

But Peter was already awake. I sighed with relief as I remembered for the umpteenth time that Peter was an early riser. He was probably already awake before Maria got to him.

Charlotte, on the other hand, was still deeply asleep; her highlighted hair messed up and across his face. She was sleeping on her stomach so we couldn't see her face. That was always a bad sign.

I sighed and went to get Peter. "Hey, Pete," I said to him. He looked up at me. "Help me get Charlotte out of bed."

With a sigh, Peter followed me to Charlotte's room. He took her shoulders while I took her feet, and together we lifted Charlotte out of bed and set her on her feet.

"Hey!" she protested. "I was sleeping!"

I just looked at her. "Maria says to get up," I said flatly.

"Yeah, so?"

"So you get up," I said. "That's all there is to it." Charlotte gave an exasperated sigh.

"You're really pissing me off with all this obedience stuff," she said.

I shrugged. "I'm not obedient," I said pointedly. "I know what's good for me, and so should you."

Charlotte sighed again. "Whatever," she said.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

After we were all fully awake and functional, we sat down in what Maria calls 'The Entertainment Gallery'. This is where she sends us when she's…busy, if you know what I mean by that. There's a back door in the Entertainment Gallery so that if we decide to leave, we can without…disturbing her.

The room held a neon red sofa and two blue armchairs to match, as well as a wide-screen T.V. without surround sound. There were two bookshelves on either side of it, and they were both filled with books I'd already read over the years. There was a desk and computer in the corner, as well as stacks of printer paper and crayons if we wanted to draw. There was my guitar in the corner and Peter's drums stowed away in a walk-in closet. There was a little microphone for Charlotte to use, and even a piano should we choose to use it. It was a big room, and it cost us a lot of money, but it was worth it.

"So," Charlotte said. "I hear you met the new girl."

"Who? You mean Alice?"

"Of course I mean Alice," Charlotte snapped. Temper, temper.

"Well, how would you know? Didn't you go outside with Peter?"

Peter snorted. "You obviously don't know us very well at all," he said. "We saw the look on that girls' face when you walked in. No one's looked at you that way since sixth grade."

"So you were _spying_ on me?" I cried.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Oh, cut the crap, Jasper. How did it go?"

"How did what go?" I exclaimed. "She came up and asked me if I wanted anything, because she caught me staring at her!"

Peter snorted. "Wow," he said. "You know–you shouldn't screw this up, Jazz. She's the only person that hasn't looked at you with…you know…disgust."

I looked at him. "Thanks," I said dryly.

"Oh, shut up," Charlotte said. "You know we didn't mean that."

"Sure, sure," I sighed. "I don't know _what_ you guys are talking about, though. And how can I possibly screw it up when I'm never going to talk to her again?"

"Aw, why not?" Charlotte scowled.

"Because!" I cried. "Did you see the way Mike was looking at her? And Tyler! And Eric! And…and…_everyone_! She's the new main attraction! Why on Earth would she pick _me_?"

"Jasper–"

"I don't want to hear it anymore," I muttered, getting up off the neon couch and storming out the back door to nowhere in particular.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The clouds hung over Forks like only clouds in Forks could. They matched my mood–they often did.

I walked until I could walk no more, and then, tired and exasperated, I sat at the side of the road.

And then a beat-up silver car pulled over to my side. The driver rolled down the window, and, to my luck, it was Alice.

"Jasper?" she said in her sweet, high voice. It almost hurt to hear. "Do you need a ride?"

I stared at her a moment, at her clear concern and maybe even admiration in her eyes. I stared at her beautiful pixie-like face and the haircut to match, at how it looked familiar to me somehow. And I thought of how she deserved so much better.

"No, thanks," I said at last. "I can walk. I need the exercise."

She stared at me with a mixture of confusion and sympathy. "Well…okay," she said slowly, and it made me want to change my mind. But I knew that wasn't an option. Instead I said,

"Alice?" She looked at me. "Uh…thanks. For asking. Most people wouldn't do that."

"Oh," she said, surprised. "No problem. Any time. Um…I'll see you later?" There was hopefulness etched on her face.

"Yeah," I said after a while. "See you later."

With a contented smile, Alice gave a little wave and drove off. With a sigh, I turned back to the direction that I came from and began to walk home.

**Okay, sorry about all the angst.**

**You know, one analogy I like is one that compares this story to pie. Everybody loves pie!!!!! Even people who have never tried pie like pie. Heck, even people who don't like pie like pie! And why? Because it sounds cool!!**

**Don't forget to review!!!!**


	5. Edward Mason

**Okay! I just realized something! Alice will get to speak more than Jazzy! That's not good! So…we'll make this the last Alice-only chapter until (their) school starts! Good. Okay. Now that that's covered…Let's begin.**

**It's in Alice's point of view.**

_Days left until school starts: 3_

_I looked all around me, trying to take in my surroundings. Jasper Whitlock stood on a stage with a spotlight over his head. The rest of my surroundings were either too dark to see or simply unimportant._

_He held a guitar, an acoustic one that's surface looked like marble, white and with a beautiful black design of a rose. His fingers strummed the strings on that guitar, and he opened his mouth._

"Alice," Cynthia's voice cut off my curious dream, and I groaned at the loss of Jasper's face. "Alice! Ali?"

I opened my eyes tetchily. **(A/N: That's a funny word. Means 'crankily'.) **I looked at my sister, who stood over me with relief and amusement on her face. "What?" I snapped.

Cynthia laughed. "Nothing, nothing," she murmured, chuckling. I glared at her. She laughed again. "It's time to get up!" she said, still laughing.

"Well, thanks," I muttered.

Laughing, Cynthia left the room. "Don't go back to sleep!" she called, leaving the door open, probably just to irk me. She knew I couldn't sleep with the door open.

I stared at the door for a few minutes, and then with an exaggerated sigh, I got out of bed and closed the door with a slam. I heard Cynthia's restrained laughter echo through the hall. I scowled.

When I could hear music blasting from Cynthia's room, I walked slowly over to my closet. It was still filled with boxes, but it wasn't hard to find the one with the red X. I took out that special notebook with the drawing of Jasper Whitlock, and I stared at the carefully-drawn sketch. I had no idea how long I was going to stare at it with that dreamy look on my face, but it didn't seem to matter.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Alice!" Cynthia burst into my room, and I quickly put the drawing of Jasper aside. Her face was lit up with excitement; her eyes held something I'd never seen from her before. "I can't _believe_ this! You know that guy from the diner?"

I stared at her blankly. "Which one?" I asked cautiously.

"You know…Mike," Cynthia said. Then her excitement returned. "He just asked me to the end-of-summer carnival!"

I tried to share her enthusiasm. "Oh my God; that's great!" Cynthia beamed.

"I can't believe it. Nobody would look at me twice back in L.A. Now…" she trailed off, and there was a strange look of recollection on her face. After a while, she remembered where she was, and her head snapped to me. "People notice me," she whispered as if she was telling me a secret. "That creepy guy from the other day isn't the only one who's been staring at us. Everywhere I go, people look at me, and they already know who I am! It's…" she trailed off again, thinking of a word. "It's phenomenal!"

Though the reference to Jasper as 'that creepy guy' irritated me a bit, I realized what Cynthia was getting at. She'd always been a quiet girl, the last one to be noticed. And there were so many of us in L.A. Now we were in a town that hadn't had a new kid since–well, I didn't know this town well enough to know when they'd last had a new kid, but it was a very long time–and Cynthia would finally be getting a lot of attention because of it. It was a chance for her to finally blossom and come out of her shell.

And so I said, "I'm happy for you."

Cynthia stared at me for a moment with an expression I didn't know well enough to decode. "Wow," she said. "You really have changed, haven't you?"

"What?" I blinked. "Oh. Yeah. I guess I have."

"We should get run out of town more often," I heard Cynthia murmur to herself as she turned and walked out the door.

"You forgot to shut the door," I called. Grumbling to myself, I got up and closed the door. Again. Some people never learn…

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Cynthia and I decided to go out for lunch at the diner. By 'decided', I mean forced, because I really didn't want to go.

Mike was there, but he was alone, and I wondered to myself how Jessica must have reacted when she found out about Mike asking Cynthia to the carnival. Maybe she didn't know.

I found myself sitting in the same booth as Mike, with him sitting a little more casual next to Cynthia, now that he'd already been successful in asking her. Looking at him, I wondered vaguely why he hadn't asked _me_ to the carnival. Not that I would ever want to go with him, of course.

Cynthia was grinning ear to ear as her hands interlocked with Mike's, and Mike looked pretty pleased, too. I, on the other hand, just looked away awkwardly, trying to see if I could spot Jasper again.

I'd seen Jasper the day before on a drive to clear my head, coincidently enough. He was just sitting there, on the sidewalk, and I had no idea why. I'd offered him a ride, but he'd refused, and that left me feeling stupid. I'd spent the whole evening after wondering if I'd done anything wrong, if he hated me. I wanted to see him again, but I didn't know how.

"Hey," I was snapped out of my dream-world by a gorgeous-looking boy with spiky bronze hair and deep, green eyes. He was just the right height, not too tall and not too short, and his beauty was incredible. "You're Alice, right?"

I nodded, a little unnerved at his good looks. "Yeah," I said in a small voice.

"I'm Edward Mason," the boy said with a dazzling smile. I blinked. "Hey, did you know there's a carnival in a couple days? For the end of the summer?"

"Um…yeah," I said after a while. "My sister's going." I gave a nod to Cynthia, who was so wrapped up in Mike's baby-blue eyes that she didn't even notice Edward's arrival.

"Oh, that's cool," said Edward, looking nonchalant. "So, uh…what about you? Are you going?"

I realized then what he was getting at. I looked him over, top to bottom, and, even though he wasn't Jasper, I decided that he was okay. "I don't know," I said slowly. "I don't have anyone to go with…" I raised my eyebrow expectantly.

"Oh, well neither do I," Edward said, pretending to look surprised. "You know what we should do? We should go together–you know, just to get everyone off our backs about it."

I nearly burst out in giggles, but I held them back and said, "Yeah. That'd be cool."

"Great! I'll pick you up at eight?"

"Sure."

Edward flashed me another dazzling smile before turning back to a heavy-set boy with muscles so big, he looked like a human bear.

I elbowed Cynthia. "Cindy," I whispered excitedly.

"Huh?" she turned to me, surprised. "What?"

"See that guy over there?"

"Who? You mean the big one?"

"No, the one next to him."

"Oh, yeah," Cynthia said, looking him over. "What about him?"

"He just asked me to the carnival!" I squealed.

"Oh, really? That's great!" said Cynthia, showing the same amount of enthusiasm as I had for her that very same morning. "What's his name?"

"Edward Mason," I said, as if revealing a big secret. "Pretty cool, isn't he?"

"Very cool," Cynthia agreed, and then turned back to Mike.

I sighed. But I supposed I couldn't really blame her, if she felt the same way about Mike as I did Edward.

**Yay! Eddy-boy's in the story now! Oh, you gotta love Edward, just a teensy bit. I mean, sure, he's a stalker and a constant downer, but…he's **_**Edward**_**.**

**Ha-ha. Just kidding.**

**Or am I? -scary look-**

**No reviews for Chapter 4? I am disappointed in you. Click the button, and type 'pie'. No, don't type 'pie', because that tells me _nothing_. Unless you _want_ to type 'pie' for a review. I guess I can't stop you…**


	6. Into the Dark

**Thanks so much to Jake1212 and madstarmadsta for reviewing! And to answer Jake1212's question, there will be a Bella in this story. But she'll come in much later so it fits in with Twilight and such.**

**Oh, just in case you haven't caught the pattern yet, it's in Jazzy's point of view.**

_Days left until school starts: 2_

Again my peaceful slumber was disturbed by Maria, and again I got up grudgingly and yanked Charlotte out of bed by her ankles. This time, though, I didn't ask Peter to help me, and she fell onto the floor with a thump and a scream.

"Ow," she cried, rubbing her head. "What the hell was that for?"

I shrugged; the guilt I knew would come later hadn't touched me yet. "I felt like it," I said.

Charlotte scowled and got off the floor; her hair had bright blue highlights I hadn't seen from her yet, and I could have sworn she had a manicure to match.

"Hey, Charlotte," I said slowly. "Where did you go the other day?"

"What other day?" Charlotte mumbled, still rubbing her temples.

"The day we picked a name for the band," I said. "You were gone that morning, and you have a manicure…"

"Oh," Charlotte blushed, though I could tell she was still trying to look tough while doing it. "Maria…um…she sort of…set us up for…" she was saying each word so slowly, it was going to take five minutes to say the whole sentence.

"What?" I asked impatiently.

"She kind of…wants us to play at the diner tonight," Charlotte turned a brighter shade of red, and it made her blue highlights stand out even more.

"What?" I gasped. "But we don't know any songs!"

"I know…"

I groaned. "You realize we're going to make fools out of ourselves tonight, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Charlotte snapped. "That's why I didn't tell you. Less time to worry."

"But Char," I said. "You don't understand. We can't embarrass Maria!"

"What?" Charlotte cried, getting mad now. "_Maria_? I swear, Jasper, you're like Ella Enchanted when it comes to her." I said nothing. "Unless that's just an excuse," Charlotte said slowly, as if to herself. Then she remembered where she was, and her head snapped to me. "Fine," she said idly. "Let's get Peter."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Peter was in the Gallery, banging loudly on his drums. "Peter!" Charlotte shouted over the drums. He pretended not to hear. "PETER!!!!!!!" she screamed as loud as she could; loud enough to hear over the drums. I guess that's what vocal training does to you.

"What?" Peter asked, putting down his drum-sticks.

"What are you doing?" Charlotte said, rather than getting right to the point.

"I know the drill by now," Peter said logically. "You don't get up; Jasper wants me to help get you up. So I decided to help!"

"Well, it's not helping," Charlotte said irritably.

Peter shrugged, a mischievous smile on his face. "Sure it's not," he said.

"Look, Pete," I interrupted. "Maria wants the band to play at the diner tonight."

By the look on his face, if he was drinking something, he would have spit it out. "What?" he gasped. "But we don't know any songs!"

"Well, we have to learn some," I said simply, walking over to my guitar. It was a beautiful guitar–white with a black design of a rose on it.

"But Jasper–"

I shot him a look, and he shut up. "Where do we start?" he said quietly.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

By the end of the day, we'd pieced together three songs–songs that other people had written. There was one with all three of us, one with just me, and one with Charlotte and me.

Maria took Charlotte into the bathroom for an hour, and Charlotte came out looking the same as she did when she was in the bathroom for five minutes. Her eyes were lined with heavy eyeliner, accompanied by blue eye shadow. She wore blood-red lipstick and bright blue earrings. Her attire was entirely blue and black.

Next, Maria took Peter and disappeared into his room. He came out five minutes later wearing a dark blue shirt and jeans, his hair brushed back but in a stylish manner.

Next she took me, and to her dismay, she could not find anything blue for me to wear. So instead, she abandoned the matter and let me wear what I pleased. Peter and Charlotte stared at me with annoyance because of it. I just smiled sheepishly.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Maria had gone all-out for our first gig. She'd put up posters with our faces on them, handed out flyers, told everyone she knew.

The diner was packed. Most of the people were probably there just to laugh at us, and everyone else had come out of mere curiosity.

We were an unseen bunch – Charlotte, Peter, and I. We'd all tried to get more friends other than each other, but it had never worked out for any of us, and, one by one, we'd accepted that, though Charlotte took it hard. And so all of Forks was stuffed into the diner, gossiping about us and wondering if we were any good at playing instruments.

There was a little stage set up just for us, with a microphone in the front of the stage, an amp for my guitar next to it, and Peter's drums in the back. I was surprised they could even fit the stage, considering how many people were there.

Maria stepped out, and the entire room immediately fell silent. I refused to let my stomach twist up with nerves. They wouldn't do any good, I told myself. Maria had a smug smile on her face, as if she was truly proud of all three of us, as she said, "Hello, Forks! Are you ready?"

The diner burst into applause as if it was a stadium, and the three of us walked onto the stage. I was scared silly, but Charlotte took the mike in her hand and yelled, "Hello, Forks! Are you ready to rock?!!"

_Oh, don't overdo it, Char,_ I thought pleadingly.

"We're gonna start out with a song we didn't write; is that cool?" More cheers. "I think you'll all recognize it."

She nodded to me, as that was my cue to start playing. I plucked the first notes, tension in my body, and they all flowed out perfectly. I was amazed; after all, we'd only just learned the song.

Peter joined in on his drums, and, even more surprisingly, his part went well, too. Right on cue, Charlotte opened her mouth and began to sing.

"_I'm in the business of misery  
let's take it from the top.  
She's got a body like an hourglass.  
It's ticking like a clock._

_It's a matter of time  
before we all run out.  
When I thought he was mine  
she caught him by the mouth._

_I waited eight long months  
She finally set him free  
I told him I can't lie  
he was the only one for me_

_Two weeks and we caught on fire  
She's got it out for me,  
But I wear the biggest smile._

_Whoa, I never meant to brag  
But I got him where I want him now  
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag,  
Just steal it all away from you now_

_But God, does it feel so good  
Cause I got him where I want him now  
and if you could then you know you would  
Cause God it just feels so  
it just feels so good._

_I watch his wildest dreams come true  
not one of them involving you  
Just watch my wildest dreams come true  
Not one of them involving_

_Whoa, I never meant to brag,  
But I got him where I want him now  
Whoa, I never meant to brag,  
But I got him where I want him now  
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag,  
Just steal it all away from you now,_

_But God, does it feel so good  
Cause I got him where I want him now  
And if you could then you know you would  
Cause God, it just feels so  
it just feels so good."_

The diner burst into hesitant applause, and Charlotte bowed. "Thank you," she said graciously. "Thank you so much. Okay, everybody, you know this is our first gig." It wasn't a question. They _did_ know it was our first gig. "And we haven't been a band for that long," Charlotte continued. "So, sadly, we only know three songs. So let's bid adieu to Peter! He did a great job." Again, the diner bust into hesitant applause as Peter stood up, took a bow, and walked off the stage.

"Okay," Charlotte said when the crowd had settled down. "Now Jasper and I are going to do a duet."

She gave a nod at me, and I unplugged my marble-like guitar from the amp and began strumming it. It was hard to hear compared to Charlotte's voice, but that was the point. They were supposed to focus on her more than me.

"I think you all know this song pretty well, too," Charlotte said. "Let's see if it can ring a bell." And right on cue, she began.

"_No more gas in the rig  
Can't even get it started  
Nothing heard, nothing said  
Can't even speak about it_

_All my life on my head  
Don't want to think about it  
Feels like I'm going insane  
Yeah_

_It's a thief in the night  
to come and grab you  
A disease of the mind  
It can control you_

_It's too close for comfort_

_Throw on your break lights  
We're in the city of wonder  
Ain't gonna play nice_

_Watch out, you might just go under  
Better think twice,  
Your train of thought will be altered  
So if you must falter, be wise_

_Your mind's in disterbia  
it's like the darkness is the light  
Disterbia  
Am I scaring you tonight_

_Disterbia  
ain't used to what you like  
Disterbia  
Disterbia."_

The crowd erupted into cheers as I stopped playing. _Disturbia _was the song we'd spent the least time on, and so it was cut very, very short. Charlotte blew a kiss to the crowd as she walked off the stage yelling, "Good night, everybody!"

That was my cue. I took my guitar and walked to Charlotte's spot in front of the mike, bringing a stool with me from backstage. The crowd was still cheering for Charlotte, and when they finally settled down, I said,

"Um…hi," Silence. "I'm Jasper Whitlock, and I'm going to play our closer. It's a little more low-key than the other songs you just heard, and it's not very well heard of. It's called _I'll Follow You Into the Dark._"

"_Love of mine,  
Someday you will die  
But I'll be close behind  
I'll follow you into the dark_

_No blinding light  
or tunnels to gates of white  
just our hands clasped so tight  
waiting for the hint of a spark_

_If heaven and hell decide  
that they both are satisfied  
illuminate the NOs  
On their vacancy signs_

_If there's no one beside you  
when your soul embarks  
then I'll follow you into the dark."_

The crowd had gotten very confused by now; this song was unfamiliar to them. But suddenly, I saw Alice sitting in the front row right below me, a look of familiarity on her face. That made me calm down, and the words flowed from me easily.

"_And Catholic school  
As vicious as Roman rule  
I got my knuckles bruised  
By a lady in black_

_And I held my tongue  
As she told me, "Son,  
Fear is the heart of love."  
So I never went back._

_If heaven and hell decide  
that they both are satisfied  
illuminate the NOs  
on their vacancy signs_

_If there's no one beside you  
When your soul embarks,  
then I'll follow you into the dark_

_You and me  
have seen everything to see  
from Bangkok to Calgary  
and the souls of your shoes_

_Are all worn down  
The time for sleep is now  
There's nothing to cry about  
Cause we'll hold each other soon  
In the blackest of rooms_

_If heaven and hell decide  
that they both are satisfied  
illuminate the NOs  
On their vacancy signs_

_If there's no one beside you  
when your soul embarks  
then I'll follow you into the dark  
then I'll follow you into the dark."_

I strummed the last chord of the song, and there was silence. Then, there was a rough, confused applause. Alice had a stupefied look on her face, as if she thought that performance deserved bigger than what Charlotte got. Solemnly, I rose from the stool, and said, "Thank you," into the mike, before taking my guitar and walking off the stage.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Aw, Jasper," Charlotte whined as I stormed past her and out the diner furiously. She and Peter followed me as I walked.

"Shut up," I murmured. But they didn't go away.

"I liked it," Peter piped up involuntarily.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Now, don't be a big wuss, Jasper," Charlotte protested. "Those people–none of them know good music when they hear it."

"I don't want to hear it, Char," I muttered.

"But Jasper–"

I stopped and spun to face her; they stopped, surprised. "Don't try to calm me down," I snapped. "You know all those people showed up just to mock me."

"Jasper–"

"You _know_ it," I interrupted her. "And that's never going to change."

With that, I spun around and stormed off towards the house, and this time they didn't follow me.

**So sorry about the angst. It's necessary. And very fun to write, I must say.**

**The first song you heard–or saw–is called Misery Business by Paramore. The second is called Disterbia, by Rhianna, and the third is called I'll Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie, or Benjamin Gibbard, since it's just him and a guitar in real life.**

**And yeah, I know I shouldn't have dumped a song you probably don't know into this story, but I couldn't help myself. It should really go on the New Moon sound track, don't you think?**


	7. Carnival

**Alright! Thanks to Megan Geyer for reviewing. This is for you. ;p**

**You may have noticed that Misery Business was cut short, too, as well as Disterbia. Well, Misery Business has a bad word in the second verse, so I cut that out, and honestly, I hate Rhianna SO much, but I really don't know any songs sung by girls, so I had to put that in. But I got so frustrated with it that I cut it devastatingly short. Hope you don't mind. ;p**

**Okay, this is where we start putting POV's in the story. We're going to start with Alice's, and we're going to flip-flop back and forth between her and Jasper throughout the chapter. So in a way, it's like two chapters in one!**

_Days left until school starts: 1_

APOV

Cynthia's voice echoed through the hallway as she sang at the top of her voice with happiness. For once, I didn't have a dream about Jasper, though it unnerved me a bit that two of my dreams of him had come true.

Jasper's performance the night before was both stunning and solemn. Personally, I thought he'd done very well, but everyone else looked at him as if he was crazy. When he was finished, he'd politely walked off the stage, and I'd wondered to myself ever since if he'd even noticed the silence and confusion.

Cynthia was now debating on what to wear with a thrilled look on her face, one I didn't remember seeing in L.A., and she was asking my opinion on everything.

"Should I wear this one or this one?" she asked eagerly, holding up a black tank top in one hand and a blue halter top in the other.

"This is Forks, Cyn," I said, amused. "The place where the sun never shines. It's _cold_."

"Well, then what do you suggest?" Cynthia said tetchily.

I sighed. "Come on," I said, leading her back to her room. She sat on her bed with a book while I dug through her closet for something decent for her to wear. It took me a while, but I finally found the perfect outfit for my sister's first date.

"I thought you were supposed to be revealing on your first date," Charlotte complained as she pulled off the T-shirt she slept in and slipped into a long-sleeved cotton blue shirt.

"Maybe," I shrugged. "If you're a hooker."

Charlotte scowled and slipped on a pair of jeans. "How do I look?" she asked, holding her arms out to the side.

"Perfect," I said, beaming. "Call me if you need to do something else–like your makeup." Charlotte scowled again, but said nothing, and she disappeared into the bathroom to brush her teeth and her hair and such.

I flounced back to my room and picked out an outfit for myself–a short-sleeved black shirt and jeans. I was keeping it simple–it wasn't like I'd look like much compared to Edward anyway. I pulled out the box with the red X and looked at the picture of Jasper dreamily until Charlotte stormed into my room complaining about her makeup.

JPOV

"Jasper," I heard a familiar voice in my ear, but it was different somehow. It wasn't Maria's voice.

I opened my eyes and saw Charlotte's face right next to mine. I yelped and fell out of bed. Charlotte did her best to contain her laughter, but she didn't succeed very well.

"What the hell, Char?" I cried, rubbing my head.

"I'm sorry, Jasper," she gasped, trying to calm her laughter. "I couldn't resist!"

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll be going back to sleep now," I said tetchily, climbing back into bed.

"No," Charlotte whined, pulling me back out again. I stared at her with loathing. "You are getting up," said Charlotte simply.

"Why?"

"Because _you_ are going to the carnival," she said.

"What?" I cried; I was awake now. "Why would I do that?"

"Because _Alice _is going to the carnival."

"_Everyone_'s going to that stupid carnival," I said irately. "Why should we fall into everybody's standards?"

"Because," Charlotte said slowly. "Alice will be there."

"And I care because…?"

Charlotte just stared at me. "You're going," she said, throwing some clothes at me. "Get changed," she said. "And _don't_ go back to sleep."

"Wasn't planning on it," I muttered.

APOV

Mike and Edward arrived at the door together; both dressed as casually as us; that was good. Cynthia shot me a thankful look as Mike took her arm.

"You look lovely," said Edward to me as he did the same. I felt myself blush.

"You too," I said quietly. Edward smiled.

He took me to a shiny silver Volvo, and he grinned as he felt my surprise. "Oh my God," I gasped. "This is your _car_?!"

"Yeah," said Edward proudly. "Carlisle gave it to me."

I stared at him blankly. When he offered no other explanation, I said slowly, "Carlisle?"

"Oh, he's a doctor. We're good friends."

I nodded. "I see," We rode the rest of the way in silence.

JPOV

"I can't believe you're making me do this," I exclaimed as Charlotte dragged me out the door. "I _can't _believe it. Who are you and what have you done with the Charlotte I used to know?"

Charlotte smirked. "Cute," she said. "You're still going."

I groaned. "But Char–"

"You'd be going in a heartbeat if Maria told you to," Charlotte muttered. I clenched up in anger.

"It's not _my_ fault, Char," I snapped. "I told you: I know what's good for me. I've lived with Maria for _seventeen years._ You don't know her like I do."

"I've lived with her for six," Charlotte protested.

"Yeah. And I've been protecting you ever since you got here," I exclaimed.

"Protecting me?" Charlotte cried. "From _Maria_?"

"From yourself," I corrected.

"Okay, now you're just making things up," Charlotte said. "Come on. We're _going_ to that carnival." I gritted my teeth, but said nothing. She was better off not knowing.

APOV

I had a fun time with Edward at the carnival. He was such a gentlemen, opening the car door for me and being so polite.

His voice was like velvet, smooth and soft. He was gorgeous, from head to toe. But I couldn't help feeling that he was showing me off with every step he took.

I missed Jasper. I knew that I didn't know him that well, but that didn't make me miss him any less. I was uncomfortable, standing next to Edward. I liked him a lot, and I knew there were precious few people as kind-hearted as him, yet it was Jasper I wanted by my side. I couldn't understand it.

Still, I tried to forget that and have a good time with Edward, going on fast rides so we wouldn't go on them later and puke. I had the time of my life, the most fun I'd had since I'd come to Forks.

At around noon, Edward and I went to a barbecue in the center of the carnival. There, a bunch of the adults were serving burgers and hotdogs. We both took a hotdog and sat down under one of the many trees in Forks.

We ate quietly and watched everyone else get their own lunches and sit down in groups. We finished eating after a while, but we did not move. Edward got an odd thinking expression on his face, and I kept watching for people I recognized and Jasper.

Then I saw him. He was standing in line to get a burger with that girl from the diner right by his side. He had a bored expression on his face, as if he really didn't want to be there. Then he saw me, and he stared, elbowing the girl.

She looked at me, too, and then she looked away. She elbowed Jasper and whispered something to him, and then he looked away, too. My heart sank. They were gossiping about me.

"Hey, um…Edward?" I said quietly. He looked at me, still partly in his dream-world. "I'll be right back." My uncertainty made it a question. Edward nodded, distracted.

"Sure, sure," he murmured, thinking again.

I walked up to Jasper before I could change my mind and said sweetly, "Excuse me,"

JPOV

For hours, Charlotte pulled me throughout the carnival as she scouted for Alice. We found nothing.

It seemed pointless to me; a meaningless feat. What difference would it make if we found Alice, anyways? It wouldn't make her love me any more.

"You're such a pessimist," Charlotte snapped. "Smile. Look on the bright side." In response, I gave her a cheesy grin that was too wide for my face. Charlotte sighed and continued searching.

Eventually, our stomachs made us get lunch. We'd been searching for hours, and we'd come up empty. I was ready to call it quits–then again; I hadn't wanted to start in the first place. Part of me _did_ wonder what would happen if we found her, if I stayed with her for the rest of the evening. Part of me wondered what it would be like if she _did_ choose me. But it was impossible, I knew.

As we stood in line to get a couple burgers before heading out and searching again, my eyes wandered helplessly through the familiar crowd for a different, pixie-like face. I didn't really expect to find one.

But then, I saw her, and I stopped. There she was, just sitting there, as if she was looking for something. Right there; right where I could see her. I froze with surprise.

After a while I gained enough composure to elbow Charlotte in the ribs.

"Ow," she whispered, and then looked toward Alice. She must have seen her, because she looked away sharply and whispered in my ear, "Don't look at her. She's looking right at you."

And sure enough, she was, staring right at me just as I was her. Embarrassed, I looked away sharply. "Oh, God," I murmured.

Charlotte smirked. "I knew you liked her."

"Shut up."

Charlotte chuckled, but said nothing, her battle won.

Then I heard her voice; her sweet, soft voice that matched her face so well. "Excuse me," she said. Hesitantly, I turned to face her, and I instantly regretted it. She was so beautiful in her own way, and she was looking at me with false politeness. It made my heart sink with regret.

It took a while for me to register that she was talking to _me_, but how could she not be, with that tone of voice? She continued on, either unaware or perfectly aware of my speechlessness. "I couldn't help noticing–" she stopped then, and I was shocked when I figured out that she really hadn't thought this through. "Um…" she blushed a deep shade of red, and then continued quietly as though she had never said anything before. "Maybe you remember me from the other day? I'm Alice."

It took me a while, but finally I said, "Yes. I remember you." Charlotte snorted, and I shot her a look.

"Um…I was sort of wondering…" her voice was so quiet, I could hardly hear it, but that didn't seem to matter. I was dumbstruck. _She_ was nervous?

Charlotte chuckled to herself. "He'd love to," she said. I stared at her incredulously. "I'll see you later, Jazz." And she left me alone, gaping like a fish.

APOV

He turned to face me, and his expression dropped. It made me waver a bit, but I said unthinkingly, "I couldn't help noticing–" I stopped. What _couldn't_ I help noticing? That he was talking about me? That he was staring at me again? What was I _thinking?_ "Um…" _Oh, God, this is awkward,_ I thought. I could feel myself blush, and my face grew hot. Finally, I thought of something humanly to say, and I said quietly, "Maybe you remember me from the other day? I'm Alice."

He looked stunned; absolutely astounded. I knew I would have blushed deeper, if I could, but I couldn't. I started swearing mentally. Finally, he said, "Yes. I remember you." The girl beside him snorted, and he shot her a look. _At least he's polite…_ I thought hopelessly.

"Um…I was sort of wondering…" my voice was so small, even I could hardly hear it. _He must hate me,_ I thought.

The girl beside him whose name I _still_ did not know chuckled, and, to my surprise, she said, "He'd love to." Jasper stared at her with shock. "I'll see you later, Jazz." And then she left.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I found myself walking through the forest with Jasper by my side, talking about everything we could ever talk about when it came to boring little Forks.

"So…you just left him there?" he asked incredulously. "_Edward Mason?!_"

"He didn't seem to mind," I said sheepishly, my blush beginning. "He was thinking."

Jasper shook his head in shock. "You know most girls are _dying_ to go out with him," he said.

I shrugged. "Not me," I said.

"I guess you're the only one he _would_ go out with," Jasper murmured as if to himself. "Everyone wants to go out with _you._"

"Why?" I asked cautiously, wondering if he was being sarcastic.

"Because you're new, of course," Jasper said, kicking a twig aside. "Everybody loves new people, especially in Forks. Nobody's moved here since…well, I don't know." I smiled.

"I thought that exact same thing a couple days ago," I said.

"Great minds think alike," said Jasper wisely. "So, anyway, you know you can pick whoever you want, don't you? You could pick Mike or Eric or Tyler, or even Emmett if you wanted to."

"Emmett?"

"He's a really big guy," Jasper said. "He's on the football team. He only started hanging out with Edward a couple months ago. Now Ed's starting to realize his full 'girl potential', I guess you could say."

"Oh," I said. "What's wrong with picking you?"

"Me?" Jasper looked stunned. "There are better options; that's what. _Much_ better options."

"How come?"

"Just…I'm not liked, Alice," he said in a low voice. "You _don't_ want to choose me. You'll find yourself in a world of trouble."

I gave a wry smile. "I already am."

JPOV

"I already am," she said sadly, a look of deep remembrance in her eyes. I wondered for a moment, for a split second, what exactly brought her to Forks. Did she do something wrong? Did she break out of juvy? Was she really as good of a person as I thought she was?

But then that moment was gone, and it was just me and Alice again, in the forest of Forks, Washington, and I was alone with my problems again. What was I thinking, bringing her here? She probably didn't even want to be here, and Charlotte forced her to do it by cutting in. She'd probably just wanted to know why the hell I'd picked the song I did to sing the night before. I'd be embarrassed, too.

"You don't want to be here, do you?" I said quietly. I was too sad by this realization to be angry.

Alice looked at me with shock. "Where'd you get _that_ from?"

I shook my head. "Just…you don't have to stay if you don't want to, Alice. I understand."

"Of _course_ I want to stay," Alice protested. "I've been looking for you all day!" She blushed a deep shade of red as she realized what had just come out of her mouth. I stared at her fixedly.

"Really?" I asked softly. I half expected for her to start laughing and shouting, "No! Are you kidding?" But she just blushed deeper and nodded. I brushed my hair back, astounded.

"You shouldn't, you know," I said quietly. "You should go with Edward or Emmett or Mike. Ethan's not bad, either. You should go with people who…who _deserve_ you. People _you_ deserve."

"You have low self-esteem," Alice noted quietly. I couldn't help myself; I laughed. Alice glanced at me a moment, then laughed with me. And I could tell they were _real_ laughs, not those fake 'ha-ha's that Maria make.

When I was finally out of breath, I said, "You have an eye for detail." She gave a wry smile.

"Thanks," she said.

APOV

The sun was just beginning to set when we finally emerged from the forest. Jasper looked me in the eye, and he said, "Edward will be worrying about you."

"Your…uh…friend will be worrying about _you,_" I said, because I still didn't know that girl's name.

"Who? Charlotte?" Jasper asked, surprised. "Oh, she's my sister. She's not worried about me."

"Your sister?" I asked, confused. They looked the same age to me, and nothing alike.

"Adoptive sister," he corrected. "And there's Peter, too. He's the tall one."

"Ah," I remembered that enormously tall boy that had accompanied Jasper and Charlotte to the diner.

"Just go back to that tree you were sitting under," Jasper advised. "I'll bet you anything he's still there. And–Alice?" I stared at him and waited. "Don't pick me."

He walked away, then, leaving me speechless. He didn't want me to pick him. And yet, that only made me want him more.

JPOV

Charlotte didn't say anything as she drove us home, and I intended on keeping it that way.

Peter was in the Gallery, playing some video game involving guns and aliens. He looked up at us as we walked inside, and he said, "Where'd you go? I've been waiting all day for you."

"Jasper ran into Alice," Charlotte said with a smirk. "At the carnival."

"That's great, Jasper," Peter exclaimed. "Did ya' kiss her?" I rolled my eyes, but said nothing.

That night, I stared out my window at the moon and the starts up above, and I whispered to them, as if they could do anything about it, "Please…let Alice choose right." The only thing was, I didn't know whether _I_ was right or not.

APOV

I didn't say anything as Edward drove me home in his Volvo, and he didn't ask. He was still in deep thought. What about, I had no idea. I wondered if he'd even noticed that I was gone.

Cynthia came into my room and started babbling about her terrific time with Mike. I wasn't really listening, but I nodded my head and said, "Mmm-hmm," at the appropriate times. I was thinking of Jasper as he said, _"I'm not liked, Alice." _But _I_ liked him. Didn't that count for anything?

"Alice," Cynthia said, interrupting my thoughts. "Are you listening?" I nodded.

"Of course I'm listening, Cyn," I murmured.

"I _said_ that Mike asked me to be his girlfriend," Cynthia said tetchily.

"Really? That's great!"

"_Thank_ you," Cynthia said. She stood up. "I have to go. Busy day tomorrow."

"Yeah, me too," I murmured, though I still wasn't really listening. "Sweet dreams."

"Likewise," Cynthia walked out of the room and, thankfully, closed the door behind her.

I stared out my window at the night sky, and immediately thought of Jasper. It was as if it was beckoning me, _"Choose him! Choose him!"_ And so I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes, and in my heart, I knew I already had.

**Phew! That was a long chap! That was about seven pages on Microsoft! Wow.**

**Is that a treat? I think that's a treat.**

**Again, thanks to Megan Geyer and to everyone who has and will review. You all rock. ;D**


	8. Forks High

**Wow! Thanks, you guys! I've gotten a pretty decent amount of reviews here. We are now past the 20-review mark. Excellent!**

**So thanks to jaspers golden angel, Pie, Trickster, Megan Geyer, and yellow for reviewing. ;D**

**Again, we will be switching POV's. We may do so throughout the rest of the story, but I'm not sure.**

_Days left until school starts: 0_

APOV

I awoke to the sound of music playing, a static, unfamiliar tune from the radio. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, then slammed the snooze button. To my relief, the music stopped.

Cynthia opened my door and flounced in. "Get up, Alice," she said cheerfully. "Today's a day of new beginnings!"

I groaned again. "I don't _want_ to get up, Cyn," I moaned. "Can't you just go without me?"

"No," Cynthia said flatly. "Now get up." I groaned for a third time, but I didn't protest. There wasn't really a point.

"Fine," I sighed. "Just give me a couple seconds."

Smiling smugly, she turned on her heel and pranced merrily out of the room, and, to my aggravation, she left the door open.

JPOV

"Get _up_," Maria said with an exasperated sigh as she pulled back the curtains.

"I'm on it," I said wearily, out of pure reflex. I was used to getting up like this; it was irritating, and I hated it, but I didn't really have a choice. That was one of the things I hated about my life; I never had a choice about _anything_. But I'd gotten used to it.

I leaped out of bed, dragged Charlotte off hers, and quickly claimed the bathroom before Peter could get his mitts on it. I was filled with deep satisfaction as I heard Peter groan a few minutes later, "Aw, man!"

"You snooze, you loose," I called. I couldn't see him, but I could just picture Peter's scowl. It was a pretty ironic thing to say, considering that Peter never seemed to sleep.

"Who's gonna drive today?" I asked, plopping down at the kitchen table with a sigh. Peter, who had probably actually gotten in bathroom before me, was cooking a bunch of eggs for all of us to eat. Charlotte was still in the bathroom.

He shrugged, not looking at me. "I'm thinking you," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine," I grumbled.

APOV

I sighed as I brought the car to an abrupt halt in a parking space. I turned to look at my sister. "Cyn? Before you go, just…" she looked at me, half skeptically and half worriedly. I gave her a smile. "Good luck. Okay?"

Cynthia returned my smile thankfully. "Okay. You too."

"We'll see," I said, opening the car door. Cynthia followed suit, and then we stepped out to face the world. Or at least that's what it seemed like.

Cynthia scanned the crowd, looking for Mike. She found him, and she ran full speed ahead towards him, waving over her shoulder. I sighed and waved back. She was growing up way too fast.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Forks High School was a lot different than the school I went to in L.A. There was no means of security, nothing to keep track of all the students. It was astounding, really. But I didn't question it; there was no point.

I searched around until I found a door marked _Front Office_. I looked at the door and sighed; might as well.

The office was warm and comforting. It felt a bit like L.A., and that made me slightly uncomfortable. I was hoping the escape all things 'California'.

The lady behind the counter had red hair and glasses, and she looked a bit like a lunch lady. But I ignored that as I slowly approached the counter. "Um…" I said in a voice so quiet, I could hardly hear it.

She looked up at me. "Can I help you?" she asked in a nasal voice.

"Yes, um…I'm Mary Brandon?" I winced at the sound of my real name that I hated so much. It was still so bland, so…L.A. Ugh.

"Oh," said the lady as her expression transformed into surprise. "Of course. I have your schedule right here and a map, too. What about your sister, Cynthia? Is she here as well?"

"Shoot," I muttered. I'd forgotten about her. "Um…just give me her schedule and I'll give it to her."

"Alright," said the lady briskly, handing me two schedules and two maps. "Have a good day, dear."

I gave a curt nod and a polite smile. "Thanks. You, too." The lady looked at me with surprise as I walked away, and I realized that she must not get told that very often.

JPOV

"Damn it, Char, you made us late again," Peter whined as we pulled into the school. Charlotte scowled.

"Well, if Jasper wasn't such a bathroom-hog–"

"Me?" I cut in. "Oh, no, girlie, this one's all you."

"Who're you calling girlie, girlie?" Charlotte snapped. Peter chuckled.

"She got you there," he murmured. I scowled, but said nothing. I'd learned not to respond in these kinds of situations; it would only make us more late for school.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Peter said unhelpfully as I parked the car. "Why don't we just ditch school?"

I shot him a sour look. "Don't tempt me," I said, opening the car door and stepping out. Charlotte and Peter followed.

"We can't ditch school, Pete," Charlotte said smugly. "Alice is here."

"Oh, shut up."

Charlotte smiled to herself, and I rolled my eyes. This was the disadvantages of living with your best friends: they knew everything that was going on in your life, and they had more things to tease you about. It was very aggravating. But worth it in the end.

"Whoa," Peter exclaimed. "Speak of the devil."

I followed his gaze and froze. There she was, looking down at a piece of paper, all alone. I heard Charlotte chuckle to herself, and Peter give a low whistle, but it didn't register. All I could hear, all I could see was the girl standing a few yards away from me.

Peter and Charlotte whispered amongst each other, but I couldn't understand what they were saying, too fixed on Alice. Then I heard them whisper together, "One, two, three."

Then, too my complete and utter dismay, Peter and Charlotte shouted at the top of their lungs, "ALICE!!!!!!!" Then they ducked behind the car. I stared at them with alarm. They snickered at me.

I spun back to look at Alice, who had lifted her head and seen me. She smiled and waved, and I felt Charlotte nudge me forward. With a scowl, I approached her.

APOV

I squinted at the schedule and map; neither of them made any sense to me, and I was beginning to panic. How was I ever going to get by here in Forks if I couldn't find my classes? I was freaking out.

And then I heard a shout. "ALICE!!!!!!!" I lifted my head in surprise, and I saw Jasper staring at his car. The person who called my name didn't sound like him, but rather like two people: a male voice and a female voice. I smiled to myself as I realized that they were Peter and Charlotte.

Jasper looked back at me, and I smiled and waved. He stumbled forward, and then began to walk towards me with a look of panic on his face. He walked slowly, nervously, and I sympathized. But I didn't let that show on my face; that would ruin everything.

When he finally reached me, he said quietly, "Hi."

"Hey," I said. "Look, can you help me find my classes? I'm really lost."

"Oh, sure," Jasper said, relief washing over his face now that things weren't awkward anymore. He took my schedule from me and glanced at it briefly. "Well, what do you know," he said under his breath. "We have our first class together. Come. I'll escort you." With an overdramatic bow, he offered his arm. I giggled and took it, and together we walked to our first class.

JPOV

Indescribable joy flowed through me as I took Alice to our first class. I knew it wouldn't last–it couldn't last–but for the moment I made my mind shut up so I could enjoy it while it lasted.

"I hope you don't mind," I said smoothly to Mr. Varner as Alice blushed beside me. "Alice got a little lost, and it's her first day, so I helped her find her class."

"Of course not," said Mr. Varner, but his gaze was distrusting. "Take your seat, Mr...?"

"Oh, Whitlock, sir," I said as politely as I could manage. "Jasper Whitlock."

"Oh," said Mr. Varner, his voice tilting down in disgust and disappointment. "Take your seat, Mr. Whitlock. And don't be late again."

I smiled and nodded. "Never again, sir," I assured him, then turned and walked to an empty seat. The kid I sat next to stared at me with hatred; I just ignored him.

"Alice," said Mr. Varner in a gruff voice. "Why don't you introduce yourself?" I rolled my eyes and Alice blushed deeper, and she said in a small voice,

"I'm Alice Brandon." And then she walked quickly to the other empty seat in the room. I contained my sigh–what was the point of introducing yourself when everybody knew you already?

For the rest of the class I was filled with bliss, for I still had the memory of Alice's touch close in my mind. My happiness didn't wear off even as I felt people's stares from time to time and knew that they were staring at Alice, as well. It stayed as the bell rang and I slipped smoothly out the door. It stayed as I wandered through the rest of my classes. It stayed as I chewed on my lunch. It stayed as I walked to my car, and it stayed as Peter drove us home.

APOV

Things were uneventful after that first class. They were exactly as I'd expected them to be. People stared at me; they were over helpful just so they could find out more about me. It was devastatingly awkward. But it wasn't surprising.

At lunch, I sat with Cynthia, who sat with Mike, who sat with a whole bunch of other people. And I found myself amongst a whole lot of people for lunch.

"Oh, Alice," Cynthia said quickly when I arrived. "This is Jessica, Lauren, Angela, Eric, and of course, Mike." She blushed as she held eye contact with Mike. I nodded. I knew I wouldn't remember any of these names, but it was best to pretend like I would.

It was awkward for a long while, and I didn't say anything. Then Jasper came in.

He was accompanied by Peter and Charlotte, and all three of them walked briskly and smoothly to a table in the corner, where they pulled out paper bags in silence.

The one that was with Mike at the diner – Jessica – caught me staring and she muttered, "So I see you've noticed the freak show."

I didn't believe that they were freaks, of course, but I wanted to know more about them. "Why?" I asked curiously. "What's wrong with them?"

"They're all…isolated," Jessica said, rolling her eyes. "They don't talk to people anymore. They're just too...strange."

"What're we talking about?" another one–Lauren–asked nosily.

"The freakshow," said Jessica, rolling her eyes again. Lauren echoed her.

"You don't want to hang out with them," she advised me.

"Why?" I asked, getting a bit frustrated.

"A couple years back, Jasper got in a fight with Emmett," Lauren said, leaning forward as if she was telling a big secret. "He lost. He got a black eye for weeks."

"That's not what _I_ heard," said Angela, butting in. "I heard that his mom kicked him out."

"I heard that he went off the deep end and started going crazy," said Jessica.

I stared at them all blankly. This told me absolutely nothing. I guess that's what you get when you rely on teenagers for information.

**Wow. I'm on a roll here. These chapters are pretty long, actually. Huh.**

**Note: There **_**will**_** be a totally dramatic moment where the Jasper/Alice thing becomes official, and it will be **_**awesome**_**. If you like drama, of course. I'm not sure when that dramatic moment will be, of course, so if you guys could help me on that… It could be a couple months, or the next day, or in a week…I'm at a blank. So, please, tell me what you think.**


	9. Try Me

**Whoa! It's only been 24 hours and we're already almost to the 30-review mark! That's excellent! If this keeps up, we'll have more reviews than Persuasion, and then maybe even more than Rosalie's Exboyfriend! And if we get more than Rosalie's Exboyfriend, this story will have the most reviews I've ever had!!!!**

**That's good news.**

**Okay, so sadly, I got no requests, so I'm going to have to make it up myself. Gosh.**

_Days since school started: 3_

APOV

For the next two days I wandered through my classes. The only times I saw Jasper were during classes and from a distance at lunch. I didn't know how I felt about that. Part of me was insisting that I didn't care; Jasper was just a person, after all. Why should I care if I saw him? It wasn't like I knew him very well, anyway. But every other part of me was depressed and saddened, because, even though I knew I shouldn't care, I shouldn't miss Jasper at all, I did.

Still, I amazed myself with my acting skills as I smiled at everyone and tried to be polite. They all smiled back and they asked me a bunch of questions, which I answered cheerfully and vaguely. It earned me a bunch of stares and confused, but polite smiles.

Talking with them–those pale, humorless teenagers–was nothing like talking with Jasper in the woods at the carnival. There it was natural, and we didn't talk about anything we didn't want to. We were both on the same page and it flowed smoothly, with almost no effort at all. With everyone else, it was just…awkward. That was the hardest thing about Forks.

JPOV

My happiness didn't last long. As soon as I got home on that first day of school, my life turned to living hell. Maria had a breakdown from all the 'stress' going on in her life, and so, before Charlotte and Peter could see, I pulled them out the front door and through the back into the gallery, where we stayed and did our homework for the rest of the evening.

I was still nervous about Maria, and so I ran to get a couple blankets and ran back into the gallery at record speed. "Hey, guys," I panted. "Let's sleep in here. To celebrate the first day of school. How does that sound?"

Charlotte and Peter stared at me as if I was crazy, but they didn't protest, for this had happened before. And so we settled down in our sleeping bags and went to sleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Life went on; days past, and I avoided Alice as much as possible. It wasn't that I didn't want to see her–that would be insane–but I didn't want her to want to see _me_, if that made any sense at all.

She was swarmed by everyone in school; she was never alone. It made me disgusted with people nowadays, and also a little bit jealous, but I knew it was a good thing, deep down. If Alice was busy, she wouldn't have time to think about me. I didn't have my desperate hope that she wouldn't choose me, anymore. She'd proved me wrong on that several times already; now all I could do was stay invisible and hope that she would find someone better or that the gossip would drive her away. It was a strange hope, but it was a hope that seemed pretty likely to me. Still, I was nervous about it.

It made me wonder why she hadn't been driven away already.

_Days since school started: 4_

APOV

One day right before lunch, I was ambushed before I got to Cynthia's table. Edward Mason walked up to me with that dazzling smile, and he said, "Alice. Nice to see you again."

"You, too, Edward," I replied politely, returning his smile, though I was sure it didn't touch my eyes. "You're looking well." Understatement.

"You, too," said Edward, walking beside me casually. "How're you adjusting to Forks? You must have a lot of new friends." I blushed.

"I don't really know them that well, between you and me," I said quietly. "I just sit with them because Cindy does. It makes her happy."

Edward nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, it must be tough," he said. "Things must have been different where you came from.

I nodded. "Yeah. They were. But I didn't really like it there, so it's okay."

"Oh, really?" said Edward. "How come?"

"Oh, you know…" I blushed, becoming self-conscious and realizing what Edward was doing here. "It's just…didn't like it."

"Uh-huh," said Edward with a frown. Then he smiled again. "Why don't you sit with us? It's a little off with just two of us."

"Oh…sure."

The next thing I knew, I found myself sitting across from the biggest guy I'd ever seen.

JPOV

I scanned the lunchroom for Alice, as usual, looking in her usual spot next to her sister, Cynthia. She wasn't there.

With wild eyes, I scanned the room for her. Who knew who she could be sitting with and what she could be getting into? Forks was a small town, but it still had dangers, and though there were no dangers that were that drastic, I still worried about Alice and her choices.

Finally I found her, sitting in the first and the last place I wanted her to–with Edward and Emmett. I was filled with jealousy and fury, though I knew I shouldn't be. _This is what I wanted all along_, I told myself calmly. _This is a good thing. Both Edward and Emmett are great choices for Alice. She'll be happy with them._ But I didn't believe it.

I clenched my fists and I felt my jaw harden, and though I saw Charlotte and Peter's questioning looks, I was too angry to say or do anything rational at that moment. So I just shut up.

_Days since school started: 5_

APOV

I learned that the big guy's name was Emmett, and he was very funny. He cracked jokes often, and he laughed with huge guffaws that made your own laugh seem small. He was very intimidating, and that made him hard to be made friends with, but he seemed like a nice guy overall. I didn't like him like Jasper, though.

The next day was Friday, and that meant a nice, long weekend for us all to enjoy. I was looking forward to it, and I could hardly wait until I could finally be alone in my artistic world, the world where there are no expectations, no pressure. Everything was exactly as I imagined it, because there was nobody to tell me otherwise. That felt great.

But I had to get through today first, and I could tell today would be a long one. All through the morning, I seemed to get all the normal stares times ten, and I sank as low in my seat as I could allow. The only person that didn't look at me was Jasper, who stared straight ahead with a stiff look on his face. I couldn't help wondering why, but I was a blank, at that made time pass slower.

At lunch, Edward led me to his table again, and again I sat in silence as Emmett laughed and joked and talked with Edward. I knew they were trying to fit me in, but I couldn't help feeling out of place. There was a familiarity with their faces, their faces that were so different, but it wasn't the same familiarity I had with Jasper, and that made me flat out uncomfortable.

I knew I was being really stubborn. I knew I'd never make any friends with anyone if I kept having the Jasper-or-bust attitude. _Well, maybe I don't want to,_ said a voice in the back of my mind snidely. I nearly groaned, but I didn't, because that would seem stupid. I _hated_ that voice in the back of my head. Sometimes I wondered if it was there just to annoy me.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Finally, school was over, and finally I could go home. I stood by the car; waiting for Cynthia so I could drive her home–she was only fifteen and didn't have a license.

Finally, she arrived, running quickly towards me with a smile on her face. She reached me, stopped, and gasped, trying to regain her breath. In between sucks of air, she said, "Mike's going to take me home. Okay?"

I smiled and nodded. "Of course, Cyn. Be careful, though. Just in case he takes you somewhere else…" Cynthia scowled.

"Mike's not like that," she said. I winked.

"Of course not," I said. "Have fun."

Cynthia rolled her eyes and walked off. When she finally remembered where she was going, she broke out into a sprint again. I sighed. Young love.

In the distance, I saw Jasper staring, and by the looks of it, he was _mad_. He stared at me with indescribable fury in his eyes, and he looked about to explode. I exchanged gazes with him, and we stared at one another for a while, and then he stormed off angrily into the forest.

Surprised, I followed him. I know I shouldn't–I didn't know him and he could be dangerous–but I couldn't resist. He was alluring, and I needed to know what was going on. And so, as if someone had waved a watch in front of my eyes, I stepped forward and followed Jasper deep into the woods.

JPOV

I was so _mad_, and I didn't know why. I shouldn't be doing this; I shouldn't be freaking out! I should be _happy_, dammit!

I don't know what came over me, but all I knew was that I had to get away from Alice; I had to get far away. I couldn't _take_ it anymore! I couldn't take the sight of her picking right! I was angry to the core, and I wasn't in control anymore.

I stormed towards the forest, and when I'd disappeared safely into its safe shroud, I broke into a run, letting the branches scrape my cheeks and cause thin, red scars. They stung, but they didn't sting that bad, and so I kept running.

Finally, I stopped, and I fell on my knees and waited, getting back my breath. I didn't know how long it would take, but I did know that I wouldn't; I _couldn't_ go back out there until I'd regained my composure. So, basically, I could be here forever.

Then I heard a sound behind me, and I quickly stood and spun to face the source. I gasped, and I froze.

It was Alice.

I didn't move, because I _couldn't_ move, and so Alice walked cautiously towards me, as if I could lash out at her at any second. A moment ago, I felt like I could, but now I was too frozen to do anything.

"Jasper?" Alice asked softly; there was clear concern in her eyes, and it made me wince to look at. "Is something wrong?"

I stared at her for a few moments, taking the question into consideration. I wondered to myself, _what should I say_? And so I said the first thing that came to mind; the first thing that described what I thought the answer was. "You're damn right there is."

She stared at me curiously. "What? Is there something I can do?"

I sighed in frustration. "I don't know," I groaned. "I'm just…confused. I don't know what's up and what's down anymore."

Alice gave a wry smile and pointed upwards, toward the sky. "That's up," she said unhelpfully. I returned her smile.

"Well, thank you," I said dryly. "I feel a _lot_ better." Alice giggled, and I felt my anger close in again. "You shouldn't be here, you know," I said quietly. "You shouldn't…"

All of a sudden, I saw Alice's sweet face change. It twisted completely into an expression matching mine. "What is _with_ you?" she cried. "Why are you pushing me away?"

"Because I'm _wrong_ for you, Alice! Can't you see that?"

"You keep _saying_ that, but you never have anything to back it up with! How am I supposed to leave you alone when you won't give me anything to settle with? I can't just _forget_ you!"

"Why not?" I exclaimed. "It would be a whole lot better for your mental health, and I would be able to…to…"

"To _what_, Jasper? _What?_ Finally get me off your back?"

"What?"

"You're accusing _me_ of not wanting to be with you, but the only time you'll talk to me is when you're being pressured by Charlotte," Alice yelled. "You don't even _like_ me! This is just a game to you! You just want me to go away so you don't have to deal with me anymore!"

"What? How can you say that?" I cried.

Alice stepped forward, getting closer to me now. "How can _you_ say otherwise?"

"You don't even understand the half of it," I said in a low voice, stepping closer.

Alice took another step. We were almost touching now. "Try me," she snarled. And so, I gave myself over completely and did the one thing I would _never_ do. I took Alice in my arms and I kissed her.

APOV

He was really getting on my nerves now. "You're accusing _me_ of not wanting to be with you, but the only time you'll talk to me is when you're being pressured by Charlotte," I cried. "You don't even _like_ me! This is just a game to you! You just want me to go away so you don't have to deal with me anymore!"

"What?" Jasper shouted. "How can you say that?"

I stepped forward, really mad now. "How can _you_ say otherwise?"

"You don't even understand the half of it," he murmured, stepping closer. His face wore a mask of anger that I might have been scared of, but I was too mad.

I took another step, fighting fire with fire. After all I'd been through in the past few months, I felt nothing could ever match up to me, not even him. I looked him in the eye. "Try me," I snarled. And then, he did that last thing I would ever have expected him to. He took me by the elbows, leaned in, and pressed his lips against mine, all in a split second.

He broke away, and looked at me incredulously. He looked speechless. "I-I" he stammered. He couldn't get a word out. I smiled, stood on my tip-toes, and kissed him again, wrapping my arms around his neck. We twisted and entwined, and together we stood there, interlocked, and it was perfect.

JPOV

That night, we were all able to sleep in our rooms, and I was glad. I didn't think I could handle doing anything bigger than breathing. Somehow, today was the happiest day of my life, and I didn't care if I was right for Alice. I just knew that she was right for me, and that Alice had made her decision, whether I liked it or not.

APOV

I was filled with color and delight that night. I felt like I was glowing, filled with nothing but light and happiness. I had kissed Jasper Whitlock. That was all that was flowing through my mind, and it continued to flow through my mind until I slipped peacefully into unconsciousness.

**Sorry if that was a bit overdramatic. I find that very fun to read, actually, but of course sometimes you look at it and you go, "That is so stupid." But you know you only hate it because it hasn't happened to you. ;p**

**Okay, thanks to teamtwilight27, DISCOVER, *8* Emmett's Angel *8*, Megan Geyer, Mademoiselle-Plume, and Pie for reviewing. Love you all! ;D**

**By the way, part of this sort of came from a song I know. Not a lot, just a couple words. Cuz the song goes, "So when you ask, "Is something wrong?" I think you're damn right there is, but we can't talk about it now…" It's called Tiny Vessels, by the way, by Death Cab for Cutie. Luv those guys.**

**Don't forget to click the button and type a message for me. Requests are MORE than welcome, because I'm completely and utterly open to ANYTHING you suggest. Because, though I can do it, it's quite aggravating to have to make things up when you can request them!**


	10. What I've Done

**All right! Thanks to jaspers golden angel, Yellow, Megan Geyer, and teamtwilight27 we are now at 32 reviews! Sweet!**

_Saturday_

JPOV

I woke up with a start. I'd just had the _craziest_ dream. The craziest thing about it is that it felt so _real_, but it couldn't be real. Could it?

And then I came to a shocking realization. It _was_ real. I had kissed Alice Brandon.

I mentally said every swear word I knew, but they ran out too quickly, so I started thinking gibberish in a swear-like fashion. This was _awful_! Alice couldn't be with _me_! I was…well…_me_!!! And yet, she was, and part of me was okay with that, while the other part was scolding me for being okay with it.

Everyone was going to be really pissed off when they found out; of that I was sure of. All the guys were going to want to beat me up, and all of the girls…well, they'd want to beat me up, too. Just in a girlie fashion.

Charlotte burst into the room–she seemed to get up early on weekends for some reason–with a grin on her face calling, "Jas–" She stopped at the look on my face. "–per," she finished softly after a while. "What's wrong?"

I looked up at her solemnly.

APOV

"Hey, Alice," Cynthia skipped into my room merrily. I was already up; she knew I would be. I was one of those few people who didn't like to sleep in on weekends–I liked to use up the beautiful morning light. "You know that painting you did of me last week?"

I nodded. "Yeah?"

"Can I, uh...see it?"

"Oh, right," I said, smacking myself on the forehead. I'd led Cynthia go free before I finished the painting–I knew my sister's face well enough to finish the rest–and I hadn't shown it to her when I was finished. "It's right over here."

I lifted up the painting of Cynthia–it was, of course, of her reading. She had a beautiful, dreamy look on her face, and she was immersed entirely in her book. Her long, black hair was mostly falling along the length of her back, but a few stray strands fell over her shoulder. She looked happy, mostly, but of course there was serenity to her face, a look of maturity in her eye. "Do you like it?" I asked eagerly.

Cynthia gaped. "Whoa," was all she said. I grinned.

"Well, thank you," I said.

"Hey, Alice," Cynthia said out of the blue. "Would you read a poem I wrote?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, Cyn," I said, following her to her room. Anxiety built up inside me; I'd never read any of Cynthia's poems before. She rubbed the mouse on the computer and clicked on a file. I sat down in her office chair and began to read.

JPOV

"Oh my God, Jasper, that's great!" Charlotte exclaimed. "How can you possibly be sad about this?"

I gave her a cold stare. "Do you remember what happened with Emmett?" I said frigidly. "Do you _realize_ what they're all going to do to me when they find out? And what's going to happen to _Alice_ after that? Char, she's going to be so embarrassed, and it'll be my fault. _And_ I'll get another black eye."

Charlotte took that into consideration. Then she looked at me squarely and said, "So?"

"_So_?!" I cried. "Are you _kidding me_?"

"Jasper, you are the most up-tight guy I've ever met. You worry too much. Live in the moment. You're only seventeen."

"H-how can you say that?"

"It's quite easy. I _relax_. Have you ever heard of that word, Jazz? You might want to look it up."

I scowled. "This isn't something I can just forget, Char. Think of the consequences–"

"Oh, no, Jasper. You _always_ do this. _Stop thinking about the god damn consequences and live_!" I gaped at her, astounded.

"This is insane," I noted.

Charlotte leaned back her head and laughed. "No, it isn't," she said. "Now you give Alice a call and you ask her out–do you hear me?–and if anyone tries to beat you up, I'll beat them up first."

"Char–"

"Jazz–" Charlotte mimicked.

"That is so immature."

Charlotte smiled smugly. "Thank you," she said.

APOV

_If you decided to come, come and take me to where you go, would you make me close my eyes? Would you tell me to simply trust, not see, for the eyes are too deceiving? Would you tell me that this place that you leave me for must never be found? Would you say that you don't believe I can take it?_

_Or would you tell me to open them wider, to take every sight I see into deep memory, a memory not soon to be forgotten? Would you take me by the hand and lead me step by step, so that I can find you wherever you are? Would you say that you believe in me, that you want nothing more than to share this place where you go?_

_Would you lead me somewhere dark, where I could not see my own hand? Would you let me go and leave me there to stay, waiting desperately for your return? Would you murmur in my ear as you leave with a wisp, "It is better this way"? Would you disappear forever, then?_

_Or would you take me at all? Would you take my hand in yours and drop it again, saving it for another time? Or will you simply decide that you don't want to go there anymore?_

_-Cynthia Brandon_

I stared at the poem for a few moments. "This is excellent," I said after a while. "Where did you get this from?"

Cynthia gave me a dark look. "That's something I always hate," she said. "People thinking that I got this from personal experience. I didn't. I made it all up."

"Oh," I said. I stared at it for a couple moments. "It's not in stanzas," I said quietly.

"Yeah, I know. I just wrote it off the top of my head. It's not a rhyming poem," said Cynthia.

"I know. Poems don't have to rhyme."

"Exactly."

A few more moments of awkward silence. Then, to my relief, the phone rang. "I'll get it," we both said at the same time. Then I decided that Cynthia should get it because it was probably for her.

"It's for you," said Cynthia, giving the phone to me. _Oh,_ I thought stupidly, taking the phone from her. _That's ironic._

"Hello?" I said cautiously into the receiver, rising from Cynthia's chair and heading to my room.

"Um…Alice? It's Jasper."

My heart both rose and fell at the same time, if that was possible. "Hi," I said excitedly. I just hoped he wasn't calling to apologize.

"Hey, um…are you doing anything tonight?" Jasper asked awkwardly.

"No," I said, a bit too quickly.

"Would you like to go to the diner with me?" Jasper asked slowly. Each word had about two seconds in between it and the next one. "I just feel that we should get to know each other more," he added quickly, before I could say anything. "I mean…you're new, and…"

"Sure," I said, trying not to sound too eager. "I'll meet you there at seven?"

"That sounds good," said Jasper, sounding relieved.

JPOV

"Sure," Alice said brightly; I blinked, surprised. "I'll meet you there at seven?"

"That sounds good," I said, feeling as if a huge weight had been taken off my chest. "See you there."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. That was easier than I thought. Now all I had to do was make it through the date alive. I looked up at Charlotte, who was smiling smugly. "That was easier than expected," I said.

"I _told_ you," said Charlotte.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered. "So how do I pull this date off?"

Charlotte thought about that, rubbing her chin and looking me over. Then she leaned over to me and said in a quiet voice, "Okay, here's the plan."

APOV

"Why are you freaking out about this?" Cynthia asked, confusion painted on her beautiful childlike face. "It's just a date."

"I know; I know," I muttered, too busy searching for the perfect thing to wear to listen to her.

Unlike my sister, I'd been on plenty of dates in L.A. I'd been with some of the worst guys on the planet, and each time we'd done something wild and exciting. But this was different. This was _Jasper_, though Cynthia didn't know it. I knew she wouldn't approve.

"Who're you going out with anyway?" she said, as if on cue. "That one that took you to the carnival? Edward? Or is it that really, _really_ big one?"

"Neither," I murmured.

Cynthia's confusion deepened. "Neither?" she squeaked in disbelief. "Really?"

"Really,"

"Than _who_? Is it Eric? Tyler? _Mike_?" Cynthia's face transformed into fury at the thought of me going out with her boyfriend.

"_No_," I exclaimed. "I'm not. Don't worry; I'd never steal Mike from you."

Cynthia said nothing, but she didn't look convinced. Finally she said, "Than _who_?"

"You'll see," I said, finally selecting a top I thought decent and putting it on. Cynthia put on her best sweet-face, but I just rolled her eyes. "I'm immune," I said. She scowled and stomped to her room angrily. I chuckled to myself; teenagers.

JPOV

"Can you really do this?" I asked, amazed.

"Oh, sure," said Charlotte nonchalantly. "We did it last week, didn't we?"

"But that was with our own instruments–"

"You worry too much, you know that?" Charlotte interrupted. "It'll be fine."

"I swear, if you screw this up–"

"We _won't_," Charlotte interrupted again. "Relax. Breathe in; breathe out. Picture your happy place."

My eyes narrowed. "I don't _have_ a happy place," I said coolly.

"Than get one."

I scowled, but said nothing.

APOV

The doorbell rang, and I started freaking out. Cynthia stared at me as if I was crazy. "Are you okay?" she asked, surprised. "I mean–are you gonna be sick?" I felt like I could, if I set my mind to it, but I just shook my head.

"Just get the door," I said quietly, struggling to calm down. Even more confused, Cynthia headed to the door and opened it; I heard a little gasp come from her throat.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Cynthia asked in a cold voice. I stared at her with shock–what was her problem?

"I'm, um…Alice's date," I heard Jasper's voice say coolly. "Perhaps she told you?"

"She said she had a date, but…" Cynthia trailed off. "Come in, Jasper. Make yourself at home."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Jasper said, but he stepped inside, and I caught a glimpse of him. "I trust you're making yourself at home here? It must be very different from L.A."

"It is," said Cynthia, but her tone was uninviting.

I decided to make myself known then, walking into the room with a bright smile on my face. "Hey, Jasper," I said.

"Hi," he said coyly. Then he cleared his throat. "Should we get going, then?"

I nodded. "Yeah," I said, and followed him out the door with a quick, scolding look at Cynthia. She looked at me with hatred and loathing on her face, but I knew it was not directed at me.

JPOV

The door was answered by the girl that was Alice's sister–Cynthia. She looked much younger than she was, but there was something about her, something I couldn't name, that made her seem much older, too. She gasped when she saw me, gaping like a fish.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she asked inhospitably. My face fell. So she'd heard all the gossip and rumors about me. Now she hated me. Why didn't her sister?

"I'm, um…Alice's date," I said calmly, unnerved by the teenager in front of me at first, though the expression on her face rebooted my confidence. Now I was all about proving her right. "Perhaps she told you?"

"She said she had a date, but…" Cynthia trailed off, her eyes on the scars that lined my face. I felt my jaw tighten–I hated it when people did that. Then she seemed to remember where she was, and she said, "Come in, Jasper. Make yourself at home."

I gave a wry smile at the thought of my home as I stepped slowly into their house. "Oh, I don't know about that," I said. "I trust you're making yourself at home here? It must be very different from L.A."

"It is," said Cynthia, her eyes locked on me warily.

She was about to say more, but Alice came into view, smiling and trying to make me feel welcome. "Hey, Jasper," she said, as if this happened all the time.

"Hi," I said timidly. Then, remembering a little thing called confidence, I cleared my throat. "Should we get going, then?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she said, and followed me out the door with a scolding look at her sister.

APOV

We rode to the diner in his car without a word. Finally, to my surprise, he said, "You shouldn't be mad at her."

"At who?"

"Cynthia," he said nonchalantly, not looking at me. "You shouldn't blame her for hating me."

"She doesn't hate you," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Yes, she does," said Jasper, but he sounded like he didn't care. "You could see it in her eyes. She's heard things about me."

"What kind of things?"

He shrugged. "Lots of things, I'd guess," he said. "Judging by her gaze, she's been asking around. Or somebody's added something new recently, maybe because of that performance at the diner, and that started a chain, where she's heard every rumor about me all at the same time. You can't blame her."

"Are the rumors _bad_?"

Jasper was silent for a couple seconds. "You ever heard of the village idiot?" I nodded. "I'm him."

"Well, what about Charlotte and Peter?"

He shrugged again. "They haven't been around as long," he said. "They're just the guys that live with the village idiot–you know the guys that mope around and pretend they never had children? Except they don't pull it off very well."

"Why are _you_ the…village idiot?" I asked awkwardly.

He shrugged. "Someone has to be," he said. "And I don't have much of a choice, anyway."

"Why not?"

"No one likes me," he said vaguely.

"_Why_? We're going around in circles here."

"Circle of life," Jasper muttered. Then the car came to a halt. "We're here," he said.

JPOV

The diner was mostly empty, though I knew it wouldn't be for long. We'd planned this–Charlotte and me–to make sure that Alice and I would be alone, and though we couldn't be completely, it was good enough, because there was nobody that was anywhere close to Edward, Emmett, Mike, Eric, and all the other guys that would kick my ass if they knew what I was doing.

Alice seemed happy, and we got along well. It was some of the most fun I'd had in a long time. I knew I'd never forget this night, and, because of what I was about to do, I knew she'd never forget it either.

When we were done eating and were waiting for the bill, Peter stepped out onto the stage. He stepped up to the mike, cleared his throat and said, "Excuse me."

Alice's head shot towards him, and she gasped. "What is he doing here?" he asked, shocked.

I grinned. "You'll see," I said.

"Can I have Jasper Whitlock report to the stage, please? Jasper Whitlock report to the stage."

I winked at Alice, stood up and went backstage. I grabbed my lucky guitar and stepped out onto the stage, a set of drums rolled out with Charlotte sitting behind them, fiddling with the sticks anxiously. Alice looked up at us with wide eyes; she was not expecting this.

Charlotte started to pound on the drums lightly, doing the bare minimum for the performance, as it was not her that was singing.

Right on cue and out of pure habit, Peter shouted, "One, two, three!" And I began to play on my guitar. And then Peter began to sing.

"_In this farewell  
there's no blood  
there's no alibi_

'_Cause I've drawn regret  
from the truth  
of a thousand lies_

_So let mercy come  
and wash away_

_What I've done  
I'll face myself  
to cross out what I've become_

_Erase myself  
and let go of what I've done_

_Put to rest what you thought of me  
while I clean this slate  
with the hands of uncertainty_

_So let mercy come  
and wash away_

_What I've done  
I'll face myself  
to cross out what I've become_

_Erase myself  
and let go of what I've done_

_For what I've done  
I start again  
and whatever pain may come  
today this ends  
I'm forgiving what I've done_

_I'll face myself  
to cross out what I've become  
Erase myself  
and let go of what I've done_

_What I've done  
Forgiving what I've done."_

Peter wasn't that good of a singer, personally. He couldn't do much, and that was why we put him behind the drums even when he was six; he'd had good rhythm, at least. But he was better at this song than me, and that's why he'd sung it, and he had good breath control so he could hold the notes for a long time with breath to spare. That's why we'd taken the risk.

By the end of the song, Alice's eyes were wet. I didn't know why; I just hoped that I didn't embarrass or offend her in any way. I scurried off the stage to her.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Was it bad?"

"No, no, it was good," Alice said, wiping her eyes. "I like that song."

I smiled. "Me, too," I said softly.

**Okay, sorry that I didn't update yesterday. But I also gave you what was seven pages on Microsoft, and I find that a treat, personally. The song was called, ironically, What I've Done by Linkin Park. It's on World Tour, you know. It's pretty simple, but it goes with the story, don't it? Yeah…be sure to review, and some requests, please! I haven't gotten **_**any**_** requests except to bring in Rosalie, Emmett, and Bella, which I was planning on doing anyways. So…requests. Anything; really. If you want Alice and Jasper to go to the park and talk about bobby-pins (random, by the way; wasn't planning on doing that) than put it in a review or PM and tell me so! If you want Jazzy to get beaten up, say so. If you want Alice to draw something in particular (maybe even **_**you**_**) than say so. If you have any ideas as to what Jasper could have done to get Forks to hate him, say so, because, though I have an idea, it is not that good. You could tell me to do all kinds of things, and as long as they don't involve something off the story line, like killing Jasper and Alice or something, I'll put them in! I promise. You could even see yourself in here, if you requested it. That might be cool.**


	11. Tiny Vessels

**Yes! My first real request, made by Megan Geyer. I'm going to have to make sure I follow the request before somebody reads it and gets a preview of what's going to happen. Luckily, I have the ability to type at 100 words per minute, if I set my mind to it, and though I have the worst keyboard and mouse imaginable, it will be done!**

**Thanks to Pie, maddi, Megan Geyer, and yellow for reviewing!**

**35-review mark!!!! Excellent!!!!**

_Monday_

JPOV

I woke up screaming, covered in cold sweat. Panting big gasps of air, I sat in my bed until my surroundings became familiar. My first thought: _What happened?_

I remembered little from the night before. It didn't seem to matter, anyways–I didn't go anywhere special. But what happened to make me have a nightmare? I was having some of the happiest times of my life right now, and yet I get one of the worst dreams I could imagine?

I climbed out of bed to check the time. 5:45. I could stay awake until Maria came in to tell me to get up.

My eyes wandered to the calendar. _What day is it today_? I wondered slowly to myself, checking the date on the calendar. I froze. It was today. It was _this_ day. It was _the_ day.

No wonder I had a nightmare.

APOV

Again my alarm played annoying, fuzzy, radio music, and again I turned it off. That thing was _really_ annoying. But it didn't dampen my mood, and neither did the strange, yet realistic dream I'd had the night before.

It wasn't a nightmare–not exactly. I was in it, and so was Jasper. He looked very beaten up, with a black eye and one or two more scars added to the many others on his face. I was there–doing what, I had no idea, but we were talking. But I couldn't remember what he was saying to me.

JPOV

I left a note on my dresser to Maria explaining that I'd woken up early and decided to walk to school to get some exercise. I knew she wouldn't care.

I walked slowly, step by step, taking my time even though it was cold enough to freeze me to a block of ice. I felt like I deserved it.

By the time I reached Forks High, a couple cars were already there–ones of early birds whose greatest fears were getting a B on their homework assignment for the day. That was somewhat good news–it meant I wouldn't have too long to wait–but it also meant that Edward would be somewhere around here.

I didn't know why Edward came to school early, and I knew I never would, but yet he was always there. This wasn't the first time I'd walked to school–I walked every time I had a nightmare–and I doubted it would be the last.

So now my soul purpose was to avoid Edward Mason until Alice got here. He wouldn't do anything drastic with Alice here.

But I guess I wasn't very good at avoiding people, because soon I heard the velvety voice behind me, "Jasper?"

I turned slowly and looked at him. He was looking perfect, as usual, with his bronze completely askew yet looking perfect on his head and his emerald eyes staring at me with surprise. "Yeah…?" I asked slowly, fearing the worst.

"What are you doing here?" Edward asked, still surprised.

"I go to school here, Mason," I said coolly.

"Yeah, I know that," said Edward, getting a little frustrated. "But why are you here early? And where's Charlotte and Peter?"

I shrugged. "Didn't want to be late," I said simply. But Edward was good; he knew I was lying.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" he asked softly. Hesitantly, I nodded. "So am I. I still miss her. You?"

"A little bit," I mumbled. "I mean…" I trailed off. Edward nodded, understanding.

"I don't know if it was really your fault, Jasper," he said, turning serious again. "The police said you were innocent, but I'm still not sure."

I shrugged. "Neither am I," I admitted.

Edward's eyes narrowed; he thought I was joking. "Oh, come on," I interrupted before he could say anything. "I'm not surprised that everyone still thinks it was my fault. Especially you. They've got to blame somebody, don't they?"

"You're the likely candidate," Edward muttered.

"Well, thanks," I said sarcastically.

APOV

When I got to school that day, I was ambushed by a very beautiful blonde. She was tall, and could probably be a model if she wanted to.

"Are you Alice?" she asked.

"Yeah…"

The girl stuck out her hand. "I'm Rosalie," she said sharply. "Rosalie Hale. Well, go on. I won't bite."

Hesitantly, I took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you," I said slowly.

"Listen, do me a favor, would ya?"

"Sure…"

"Stay away from Emmett McCarty," Rosalie snarled. "He's mine; you got that?"

"Oh, sure, Rosalie," I said, surprised. "No problem. He's all yours. Gosh, it's so hard to keep track of who's got a girlfriend and who doesn't…"

Rosalie blinked. "Emmett's not my boyfriend," she grumbled.

"Oh," I said. _Awkward…_ "Well, keep at it. I think you'd be a great couple."

"You do?" Rosalie asked softly.

"Of course," I said. "I couldn't think of anyone better."

"Um…thanks," said Rosalie, off her guard. I suspected she'd been ready for an all-out cat fight, not a sheepish me saying that she'd be great with Emmett.

"No prob," I said with a shrug. "And you don't have to worry about me dating anybody special. I've already got someone in mind."

"Well, good," said Rosalie, looking relieved. "People are gonna start getting on your case if you don't pick someone soon, you know."

"Yeah," I said grimly. And together, we began to walk to nowhere in particular, chatting away.

JPOV

I wasn't late for Mr. Varner's class, thankfully, but he stared at me intensely as if he knew I'd done something wrong. I didn't know if going on a date with Alice counted, but I suppose it didn't matter.

It was at lunch that we all got the biggest surprise of our lives. Alice came into the room, and as she passed Edward and Emmett's table, she just waved at them and continued on to my own table. She sat down next to me and said brightly, "Hello," to Charlotte and Peter. "You probably know me already, but I'm Alice Brandon."

Charlotte and Peter exchanged surprised glances, then both broke out in warm smiles. "Nice to meet you," said Charlotte. Peter nodded in agreement.

APOV

Now Jasper and I had gone public, and it was a strange feeling. Everybody stared at me–at both of us. That wasn't anything new, of course, but it still made me a bit uneasy. I tried to ignore it though and pretend that I had no idea what they were talking about. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't hard, either.

After lunch, the girl I'd met that morning–Rosalie–came up to me and murmured in my ear. "Jasper Whitlock? _That's_ who you had in mind?"

I shrugged. "What can I say?" I said. "I've got strange taste."

"I'll say," Rosalie muttered.

"But you don't mind, do you?" I asked. I liked Rosalie for some strange reason I could not understand, and I didn't want her to hate me. "I mean–we can still be friends, right?"

"I guess so…" Rosalie said slowly, caught off guard. "But I'm not going to hang out with him."

I shrugged. "That's fine," I said, turning to walk away. "I'll see you later!"

"Wait," Rosalie called, stopping me in my tracks. "Alice? Would you…help me get Emmett?"

I blinked, surprised. Then I got over it. "Sure!" I said brightly, taking her by the arm.

JPOV

I walked around nervously, trying to avoid Emmett. I knew he couldn't find me, because if he did, I'd be dead.

"WHITLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!" Emmett roared from behind me. I turned slowly as I remembered that I was terrible at avoiding people.

"McCarty," I said coolly. "What a nice surprise. You're looking well; did you get a new haircut?"

"Oh, shut up," Emmett scowled. "I can't believe you're going out with Alice. And on _today_, too. Do you _like_ hurting people? Does it _amuse_ you?"

"You know it doesn't," I growled. "This wasn't my choice, Emmett, if I had any say in this at all–"

"Oh, Emmett?" he interrupted. "So now you're gonna call me by my first name, eh? Do you think that's going to change anything? Do you think" he took a sinister step forward, "that that's going to save you?"

I took a step backward. "Emmett," I said hurriedly. "Don't do this. Not again. You can't just–"

"I have a right to do anything I want, Whitlock," said Emmett with a big, Cheshire-cat grin. "I had a right then, and I have a right now. For Alice's sake."

"You _know_ this isn't for Alice's sake," I spat. "It's for _your_ sake, because you can't stand that somebody doesn't want you. Whoa–" Emmett jumped for me then, knocking me to the ground.

APOV

"Confidence is the key," I said to Rosalie. "It's all about how you talk to him." Then I heard my cell-phone ring. That was strange–people usually texted back in L.A. "Hang on," I said to Rosalie, pulling out my phone and flipping it open. "Hello?"

"Alice," I heard Charlotte's voice on the other end, shaky and scared. "Jasper's in the hospital!"

"What?" I exclaimed.

"It was Emmett! Oh, I can't believe this has happened again…"

"Again?" I interrupted. "This has happened _before_?!"

"A couple years ago; yes," Charlotte said. "Please, just get over here! He's asking for you."

"I'll be right there, Charlotte," I said hurriedly. "Hang on." I flipped the phone closed and looked at Rosalie with wide eyes. "Jasper's in the hospital," I said.

"He's _what_??!!!!"

"Is it okay if I leave you?" I asked quickly.

"Jasper's in the hospital and you're asking me if it's okay that you go?!!!!!" Rosalie screamed. "Get going!"

"Right," I said, then ran off as quickly as I could.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"How is he?" I murmured to Charlotte. She was a wreck–her eyeliner was smeared and there were thick tears running down her face.

"They said he'll be fine," she said quietly, trying to hold herself together. "He'll be able to go home tonight." I gave a sigh of relief.

"That's good," I said.

"I just can't believe this," Charlotte whispered. "I mean…I never thought it would go this far."

"What?" I asked gently.

"Their feud," said Charlotte. "A couple years back…" she shivered, but I didn't think it was from the cold. I thought about prying more, but she was finished talking, and that was that. She was already messed up enough as it was.

"Hello," said a friendly-looking doctor with pale skin and blonde hair. "You're Alice, aren't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah…"

"I'm Carlisle," said the man with a smile. "Carlisle Cullen. Jasper would like to see you." Carlisle…

"Were you the guy who gave Edward his car?" I asked.

"Why, yes I was," said Carlisle, a bit surprised. "He told you about that? Well, I suppose you can't blame him…"

"Right…" I said, wanting to see Jasper now.

"Oh, he's right through there," said Carlisle, as if he could read my mind. "Be gentle with him. He's lost some blood and is pretty weak."

I gave a nod and went through the door to see Jasper.

JPOV

She came through the door, a concerned, solemn look on her face. I felt a rush of relief through me, followed by some sharp pain. "Alice," I said weakly with a smile. It hurt my face, but it was worth it. "I'm so glad you came."

"What happened to you?" she asked worriedly.

"Emmett," I said simply, wincing a bit at the name. "He hates me."

"Emmett?" Alice repeated with shock. "Why does he hate you? And why today? This isn't because of me, is it?"

"Yes and no," I said slowly. "I'm not going to lie to you, Alice."

"Well, fine. Then tell me this. Why does everyone in Forks hate you so much? What could you possibly have done–?" She stopped at the look on my face. "Jasper?" she asked softly. "What did you do?"

I looked up at her. "Her name was Grace," I said. "She looked…well, she looked like you. She had the same pixie-like structure, the same happiness in her eyes, the same hairstyle…the only different thing about her was her eyes. They were purple and blue–beautiful.

"She made a terrible mistake. She liked me. And I liked her, too. But…it wasn't for her. She reminded me of somebody–somebody I met in California on a vacation. She was beautiful, but she didn't mean a thing to me.

"I wanted to love her; I really did. I spent all my time with her, trying to make it so I could love her like I should have been able to. But I couldn't.

"Then she disappeared. Without a trace. Things got really bad after that. People thought it was me who took her–that I killed her, hid her away somewhere. Everyone else had liked her. Everyone else _had_ loved her, but I was being selfish. I deserved what I got. Everything." I stopped, my voice cracking. "I couldn't be happy anymore. I wouldn't let myself. Not after what happened. I promised myself I wouldn't let this happen again–and now it has."

"Jasper, that's not your fault," Alice said softly. "You can't make yourself love someone."

"But it _is_," I snapped. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. "It _is_ my fault!"

"How can it possibly be your fault?" Alice protested.

"Because I know who took her!" I cried, burying my face in my hands. "It's my fault she was taken. If she didn't know me–if I didn't try to love her…"

"Whoa," Alice said, surprised. "Slow down. What happened?"

"It doesn't matter," I said, my voice muffled by my hands.

"Apparently, it does," Alice said. I sighed.

"I wish I could say, Alice," I said, looking at her. "I really do. But I can't. I'm sorry." Alice stared at me for a little while.

"Jasper," she said softly. "Do you know why I came to Forks?"

APOV

He looked at me. "No," he said.

"Well, it's not because I wanted new scenery," I said. _Was I really going to do this?_ I wondered to myself. _Yes_, I thought. "I did something really bad."

"Worse than what _I_ did?" Jasper asked incredulously.

"Maybe," I said. "You know my sister?"

"Yeah,"

"It happened on her birthday. There was this girl–Ashley Burns–I hated her _so_ much. Her curly, blonde hair, her pretty eyes, her face, everything. Call it jealously; call it whatever you want. I still hated her. But Cynthia didn't. She _adored_ her. So she invited her to her birthday party.

"We had constant fights about Ashley Burns. Neither of us ever won, but I was certain that it was a noble cause.

"Halfway through the party, Ashley comes up to me, and she whispers in my ear" my voice was shaking with anger by now "'You know, Alice,' she says, 'I really can't wait until I get the chance to make a complete fool out of your sister. I wouldn't be surprised if she got suspended.'" I stopped and took a deep breath.

"So what did you do?" Jasper asked, raising his eyebrow. I knew what he was thinking. _This is worse than what I did_?

"I attacked her," I said quietly. "I was going to kill her right then, but Cynthia stopped me. I just looked at her screaming at me with that angry look on her face, and I so I didn't kill Ashley. But I did become a felon."

"So, what?" Jasper asked, surprised. "You ran?"

"No, no, no," I shook my head. "I didn't run. The government let us off the hook–felt sorry for us somehow. We moved to get away from the publicity. It made the news, you know."

"Really?" Jasper looked thoughtful. "We don't really watch the news here."

"Oh."

JPOV

After Alice left, thoughts zoomed through my mind.

_I looked into Grace's beautiful eyes, the eyes that seemed inhuman. "I love you," I whispered. But it didn't feel true._

_The California sun cascaded over my face; it felt strange, different from Fork's rare sunlight. It felt warm–almost too warm. I saw a beautiful pixie-like girl that looked exactly like Alice…_

_More visions me and Grace; all the time we'd spent together. How I wished that it could have been love. I remembered how I kissed her neck, and how bruises showed up days later. I remembered her saying, "These are ways to remember you by. I never want them to go away." But they did._

_I remembered my frustration and confusion as I saw Maria laugh at me. "You foolish boy," she snapped. "You thought you could get away from _me_? You thought you could ignore _me_?! You'll _never_ be happy."_

_"What did you do?" I whispered, frightened now. Maria sneered._

_"I saved you," she said._

_I scrambled to my feet and ran out the door as she called my name angrily. I ran and ran until I ran _SLAM_! Right into Emmett. "You," he snarled. "What did you do to her?"_

_I remembered how I was in the hospital later, looking similar to now. I remembered how Maria walked in and covered my mouth gently with her hand as she pulled out a small steak knife and stroked it across my face…_

_"Next time," she said sweetly, taking her hand away and walking towards the door. "Don't try me."_

**I hope that's not too disturbing…**

**I hope you don't mind that I tweaked a couple things to Megan's requests. I tried to base this whole chapter on a song by Death Cab for Cutie called Tiny Vessels, which is where the chapter got its name from.**

**So now you know what happened. Kind of disturbing, isn't it? Let's hope no one gets nightmares from what I made Maria do…**

**Because this chapter is based entirely on a song, I'm going to put the lyrics down just so you know exactly what I'm talking about. I take no credit from anything in the song. (Music, lyrics, exc.)**

_**Tiny Vessels**_

This is the moment  
that you know  
that you told her that you loved her  
but you don't

You touch her skin  
and then you think  
that she is beautiful, but she don't mean a thing to me  
yeah, she is beautiful, but she don't mean a thing to me

I spent two weeks in Silver lake  
the California sun cascading down my face  
there was a girl with light brown streaks  
and she was beautiful, but she didn't mean a thing to me  
yeah, she was beautiful, but she didn't mean a thing to me

I wanted to believe it all  
the words that I was speaking  
as we moved together in the dark

And all the friends that I was telling  
all the playing misspellings  
that every bite I gave you left a mark

And tiny vessels oozed into your neck  
and formed the bruises that you said you didn't want to fade  
but they did  
and so did I that day

All I see are dark gray clouds  
in the distance moving closer with every hour  
so when you ask, "Is something wrong?"  
I think, _you're damn right there is_, but we can't talk about it now  
No, we can't talk about it now

So one last touch  
and then we'll go  
and we'll pretend that we had something so much more

But it was vile  
it was cheep  
and you are beautiful, but you don't mean a thing to me  
yeah, you are beautiful, but you don't mean a thing to me  
yeah, you are beautiful, but you don't mean a thing to me.

_**By: Death Cab for Cutie**_


	12. Isabella Swan

**All right! If we get three more reviews, we will have beaten Persuasion! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurray!**

**Thanks to Megan Geyer, Yellow, and Adi=] for reviewing!**

**I have no idea when exactly school starts–it's usually in September but now it's starting in August, I think–so we'll just say it started in early September/late August.**

_October_

_November_

_December_

_January_

_February_

APOV

After that life changing day, Jasper and I had nothing to hide. We walked around with a certain dignified pride on our faces, and though we got a whole lot of stares, Jasper didn't get beaten up again. That was good.

Rosalie became more than just an acquaintance. She became my friend–my best friend. We were complete opposites, but she was the only one that was still okay with me and Jasper–as long as she didn't have to know him, at least. This surprised me. Rosalie seemed more like the popular blonde type to me–but looks can be deceiving.

As the months passed, holidays were celebrated. On Halloween, Jasper and I didn't go trick-or-treating–we were too old for that–but we did sneak out at midnight and walk around Forks, envisioning all our worst childhood nightmares running around on the streets. It was quiet, but fun simply because we were together.

On Thanksgiving we went for another walk, but it was simply around the streets. We looked at all the leaves changing colors and the sickening dark clouds above our heads, and we thought of how much darker it was going to get.

I had my first white Christmas that year. Cynthia and I made our first snowman, had our first snowball fight, and made our first snow angels. Mine turned out looking more like a pixie, but Cynthia's was perfect. Jasper stopped by at around the middle of the day. He didn't come inside, but I enjoyed his company all the same.

I had the best Valentine's Day of my life that year. I told Jasper not to get me anything, but he got me something anyway. It was a little, heart-shaped golden locket. Inside was a picture of him, with a rare smile on his face. "To remember me by," he'd said. In a way, I was sort of glad he got me something, because I'd gotten him something, too. But all I gave him was a Hershey bar. He smiled and took it tentatively. "This'll be the best piece of chocolate I've ever eaten," he said, taking a piece and popping it in his mouth.

JPOV

Now it was March, and the school year would be coming to a close in a few months. I couldn't say I was particularly excited, but I couldn't say I was unhappy either. It had never mattered to me whether it was summer, fall, winter, or spring, and now it mattered even less. Granted, it would be thrilling to get to spend every waking moment with Alice, though it wouldn't be _that_ much more time. We already spent every waking moment together.

Spring had come, or at least what passed for spring in Forks. It still looked exactly the same as when it did in winter, of course, but with a little less snow and a tad more rain. It didn't make much of a difference, of course. Not to me, at least.

It was a cloudy day, as usual, and it was raining, as usual. Alice was off with Rosalie somewhere, and so I was catching up with Charlotte and Peter. I still saw Charlotte and Peter, of course, since we lived together, and we still spent a lot of time together. But I didn't see them as much as I used to. They didn't seem to mind, though.

Then Alice ran up to me, excitement written all over her pixie-like face.

APOV

"Alice," said Rosalie in her gossipy tone. "Did you hear?"

"I never hear anything anymore," I said with a wry smile.

"Well, Chief Swan's daughter is moving here! You won't be the new kid anymore!"

"Really?" I thought of the gruff, expressionless chief that I, luckily, didn't really see that much. I had the strangest thought then. "Does she have a moustache?"

Rosalie stared at me for a second. "What?"

"A moustache. Like her dad."

"I don't think so…" Rosalie said slowly. I let out a big laugh to show that I was joking.

"Good," I said with a grin. Rosalie smiled back. "So, what's her name?"

"Oh. Isabella."

"Oooh," I said, raising my eyebrows. "Sounds fancy." We laughed again. "What's the story with the Swans anyway? I haven't heard that much about them."

"Oh, you know. Young love, early marriage, had a kid, mom moved out; that sort of thing."

"Oh."

"It crushed the chief, though. I guess that's why he's so expressionless all the time." Said Rosalie with a solemn look on her face.

I gave a sympathetic look. "Poor guy," I said. I couldn't imagine what would happen if Jasper walked out on _me_. I don't think I'd ever get over it. I'd probably die. _Yeah, that's not an emo thing to say…_ some distant thought said. _Shut up_, I told it.

Rosalie shrugged. "At least he'll have Isabella."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Hey, I'm gonna tell Jasper. Is that okay?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," said Rosalie. "I'll bet nobody is going to tell them."

"Don't I count?" I sniffed.

"Nope," said Rosalie, popping the p.

JPOV

"Oh, that's good news," said Peter. "The chief looks real lonely nowadays. I always thought he should get a girlfriend."

"I always thought _you_ should get a girlfriend," Charlotte muttered. _Hint hint_, I thought with a mischievous smile. I wondered to myself when exactly they were going to admit it, but I decided that it wouldn't be any time soon.

Peter scowled. "Maybe you should get a girlfriend, too," he muttered.

"_What_ did you say?"

"Um…I said that I'd like to get a girlfriend soon?" His uncertainty made it a question.

"That's what I thought you said." **(A/N: That line never gets old…)**

"Getting back to subject at hand," I put in. Charlotte and Peter scowled at me.

"I'm so excited," Alice squealed. I smiled to myself; she was so adorable when she was excited.

"I wonder who she's gonna choose," Charlotte said thoughtfully.

"Maybe Edward," I put in. "Or Emmett."

"Mike Newton sounds good," said Peter.

"Hey," Alice protested. "That's my sister's boyfriend you're talking about!"

"Not for long," Peter muttered. Charlotte elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!"

"Shut up," said Charlotte with a smug smile. Peter scowled, but said nothing, shutting up. But we all knew it was true. Soon the adorable, childlike girl that was Alice's sister would suffer a big heartbreak. It was only a matter of time.

**And they knew it was only a matter of time.**

**Sorry. That was from another song, by, wouldn't you know it, Death Cab for Cutie. Gosh, I love those guys. It was called Grapevine Fires, by the way. It's simple and very catchy. Well, not catchy, but it gets stuck in your head, so…**

**HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!**

**You: What the hell are you doing writing on the fourth of July?**

**Me: Uh…**


	13. Vision

**We didn't beat Persuasion, and it will be a while before we do, because now Persuasion has 50 reviews, not 41. ;p Thanks to raneonthewyndoepane. Now you all have to review much more if you're ever going to beat anything. So far you have beaten Madam Carlisle, but I'm getting bored with that one and it may disappear soon, so…**

**Thanks to Megan Geyer for reviewing!**

APOV

A big, red truck pulled into the parking lot. It barely fit into the space, but there was enough room left over for a girl to slip out from the front seat.

She was small, almost as small as me but not quite. She had long, brown hair, as far as I could see, and since I'd never seen her before, that meant only one thing.

She was Isabella Swan.

For a moment, everybody was too stunned to do anything. Here she was, looking rather lost and a little hopeless, too, and yet nobody made a move to help her. That wasn't like tiny, little Forks at all.

Finally, after Isabella had started walking and had almost reached the school, Eric walked up and introduced himself.

JPOV

"The new girl has come," Charlotte murmured in my ear. "She looks nothing like the chief…"

"Oh," I said. "That's good."

Charlotte stared at me. "Are you implying that the chief is ugly?"

"I am implying that he has a moustache," I said calmly. "And he's quite old, too. If Isabella looked anything like him, she'd be pretty ugly."

"So you _do_ think the chief is ugly," Charlotte whispered.

"No, I just don't like him," I said with a shrug. "But I guess I should thank him for granting me innocent… Nah." I grinned and Charlotte shook her head in wonder.

"Well, let's hope she doesn't like Emmett," she said. "It's finally starting to leak that Rosalie likes him. Alice is pretty good at keeping secrets; you'd never guess at the look of her."

"Looks can be deceiving," I said. "Speaking of Alice…I'll see you at lunch, okay?"

"Really makes me wish I had a boyfriend," Charlotte muttered as I walked off. _Peter…_ I thought, as if she could hear me.

APOV

Isabella Swan was followed around that whole day. Everyone was staring at her. That made me sorry for her, but a little smug, too. Now nobody could stare at _me_.

At lunch, the gossip was high. It was strangely louder in the cafeteria as I took my place next to Jasper and he slid his arm around me shoulders. "Hello," he said with a smile; I could hardly hear him.

"Hey," I said, returning the grin. "Does it seem louder in here?"

"Oh, yeah," said Jasper. "People have got a lot to talk about. The word's getting around that Rosalie likes Emmett, and there's Isabella, too. They've got a lot of stuff to figure out."

"Why do they even care?" I asked with a sigh.

"Because this is Forks, hon," Jasper said playfully. "They've got nothing better to do. They're all bored out of their minds."

"_I'm_ not bored," I pointed out.

"You just got here," Jasper said with a shrug. "Besides, you're with _me_." I smiled and began to eat my lunch.

_I saw the science lab, with everyone already seated. I saw Isabella Swan sliding into her seat with a blush on her face, Edward Mason next to her and looking at her with surprise and astonishment._

_I saw Isabella and Edward sitting there, and Edward was staring at her with a look of near disgust. Isabella was looking straight at the teacher, her dark, brown hair falling over her right shoulder. She seemed to be concentrating more than she ought to. I heard a bell ring, and Edward leaped out of his seat and out the door as fast as he could._

"Alice," Jasper nudged me worriedly. "Alice!"

I was shaken out of my dream world, and I looked at him with surprised eyes. "What?" I asked.

"You weren't responding," he said anxiously. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" I thought about that for a moment. _Was there something wrong…?_ That certainly hadn't happened before, and it scared me a little. I remembered the dreams from way back at the beginning of the year–how they'd all come true. Would this come true too?

And yet, the vision – or whatever that was – didn't seem harmful. It didn't seem _wrong_. It seemed almost natural. And so I said, "No. Nothing's wrong. I just zoned out for a moment."

"Okay…" Jasper didn't look convinced, but he didn't pry.

JPOV

Alice looked weird. She froze, her sandwich still in hand. Her eyes glazed over, and you could barely hear her breath.

I panicked, thinking of Grace and how she used to do the same thing every now and then. "Charlotte," I cried. "What's wrong with Alice?"

"Huh?" Charlotte looked into Alice's eyes intensely for a moment. She snapped her fingers in front of her face. No answer.

"Ali?" Peter said cautiously. "Alice?"

"Alice," I nudged her, panic and worry etched on my face. "Alice!"

She blinked and looked at me. "What?" she asked, as if nothing had ever happened.

"You weren't responding," I said fearfully. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" she got a thoughtful look on her face as if she was trying to figure out the answer to that question. Finally, she said, "No. Nothing's wrong. I just zoned out for a moment."

"Okay…" I said suspiciously, but I said nothing more. I felt a bit like an idiot, now, but I knew my Alice. She didn't just zone out–at least not without telling me about it. Something was wrong with her, just like something was wrong with Grace. I intended to figure out what it was.

APOV

The visions kept appearing. I saw Edward running–to wear, I did not know. I saw Isabella thrashing about in her sleep. I saw Edward looking at her and saying in a cautious voice, "Hello."

Luckily, I wasn't around Jasper whenever I got these visions. If I was, he would've known, and then he would worry about me. I didn't want Jasper to worry.

After a while, I decided to meet this Isabella Swan–to figure out why exactly I kept seeing vivid visions of her and Edward. Shortly after, I saw myself walking up to her, though it hadn't happened yet. I didn't care.

I saw her after school, heading towards her big, red truck. I hurried over to her at my fast, pixie pace, and I said in as excited of a voice as I could manage, "Hi!"

Isabella turned to face me, surprise etched on her face. She probably wasn't used to seeing pixies. "I'm Alice," I stuck out my hand sharply, just as Rosalie had done with me.

Isabella, just as surprised as I had been, took the hand and shook it. "Hi…" she said slowly. "I'm Bella."

"Oh," I said. And here I had been calling her 'Isabella'. "Nice to meet you. Are you adjusting to Forks okay?"

"Um…yeah. It's a lot different from Phoenix."

"I know what you mean," I said grimly. "I moved here from L.A. at the beginning of the year. It was really strange."

"You moved here?" Bella looked hopeful.

"Yup," I said, popping the p. "It was pretty awkward. Everyone kept staring… I'm kind of glad they finally stopped, though."

"Yeah," said Bella slowly. She knew that she was the cause of that.

"Oh, don't you worry, Bella," I said, a smile spreading over my face again. "Eventually they'll find something better to talk about and then you'll be as invisible as the rest of us! They'll probably start staring at me again."

"Um…yeah. Thanks." Bella looked awkward again.

"Anyway, it was great meeting you," I said cheerily. "I hope to see you again!"

"Yeah. You too," said Bella.

**Yay! Good times; good times.**

**I did quite a decent amount of foreshadowing here – not just the visions, but something else too, that Alice said. We shall see if you can spot it, and then we shall see if you can guess what it is it is foreshadowing for! Gosh, I'm in an Alice mood.**

**You know, I'm getting quite bored. I've decided that I can only put up one chapter for this per day, meaning that I have the rest of the day left with nothing for me to do. It's really quite frustrating. Makes me hesitant to end this chapter, which is why I'm rambling. Yes, indeed. Rambling.**

**Don't forget to review – I love reviews. Requests, too! I can't tell you everything with Edward and Bella because it's not in either of their POV's, but luckily I have Alice!**

**Right. Rambling again. Review!! Request!! Pie!!**


	14. Cynthia

**Okay! You gotta love drama. I've been itching for something to write about, now that my beloved Vampire Tale has mysteriously disappeared… Yet nothing from Twilight jumps out at me except for this, and I'm just too stubborn to start my own story. Why? Because I want my Vampire Tale!!!**

**Is that immature? Why, yes, thank you for noticing.**

**Oh where oh where have my reviewers gone? Oh, where oh where can they be? There used to be five but now there is one; oh where oh where can they be?**

**Probably on vacation.**

_Wednesday_

APOV

The next day, my visions broadened from more than just Edward and Bella. Now they had Rosalie in them, too. There was her, lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling with a dreamy look on her face. There were many visions with her alone, mascara smeared and looking quite a wreck, yet still beautiful at the same time.

I saw her with Emmett talking about something I could not understand; I saw her stand on her tip-toes and kiss him. I saw them kiss for a long while. And then, luckily, that was the end of the visions for the time being.

JPOV

I'd been thinking a lot about Cynthia lately, though I didn't know why. I hadn't seen her in a long time – maybe since Christmas, maybe a little after – and I knew we'd never gotten to know each other well. Cynthia still didn't like me, I knew – whether it was because of my scars or what she thought I'd done to Grace was a mystery to me – and yet, I sympathized.

I usually didn't sympathize for people. They didn't like me; why should I like them? Why should Cynthia be any different?

I'd gotten to thinking, only a month ago, how bad Cynthia really had it. Alice had told me once that their mother had died when giving birth to her. She must feel a little guilty about that, just like I felt a little guilty how my parents left me on Maria's doorstep. It was neither of our faults, and yet we couldn't help the remorse.

I knew that what Alice did wasn't that bad, and after hearing about Grace, I knew she felt that way, too. And yet, anything seems bad when it makes you leave your hometown to a place where you know you never fit in completely. At least I stayed; at least I didn't run. I didn't have a choice, of course, but even if I did I wouldn't have.

But Cynthia didn't _do_ anything. That was what made me feel sorry for her. She didn't do anything that was bad enough for her to have to leave the place where she was born, to leave where her mother was most likely buried, to leave her entire life behind! And yet, that didn't matter. She was Alice's sister, and so she was expected to leave with her, whether she wanted to or not.

At least Alice felt she deserved it. At least she _did_ something. But Cynthia…all she'd done was invite a girl to her birthday party. She didn't mean any harm. She didn't deserve this. And now she was about to be dumped by her first boyfriend, all because some girl decided to move here, too.

Was that fair?

APOV

I turned the corner of the school and stopped. There was my vision from that very same morning, being played out right before my eyes. Rosalie in a lip-lock with Emmett, who seemed to be enjoying it very much.

I froze for a moment. Part of me was shocked that my vision came true; part of me was simply entertained by the scene playing out before me.

Finally, I convinced myself to turn away, and I hurried off to my next class hastily.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Alice," Rosalie said excitedly in the middle of lunch as I was getting a refill of milk. "You'll never guess!"

"You kissed Emmett?" I guessed.

Rosalie stared at me, disappointed. "How'd you know?"

"I kind of spotted you in the hallway…" I said awkwardly.

"Ah, shoot," Rosalie pouted. Then she grew happy again. "And you'll never guess what else!"

"What?" I asked, because I truly didn't know this one.

"He asked me to be his girlfriend!"

"Really?" I asked, excited. "That's great! We can match!"

Rosalie thought about that. "Um…" she said slowly. I let out a huge laugh.

"Joking!" I said. "I know Emmett and Jazz hate each other. But now I'm not the only one with a boyfriend! Yay!"

"Cynthia has a boyfriend," Rosalie pointed out. I probably would've had a vision right then, but I didn't need one.

"Not for long," I said grimly.

"Huh?"

JPOV

Right in the middle of lunch, I saw Cynthia get up from the table where she and Mike sat and ran out of the room. Deciding to finally make amends with my sweetheart's sister, I rose as well. "I'll be right back," I murmured to Charlotte.

"Jasper?" Charlotte called after me. "What are you doing?"

I didn't reply.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Cynthia!" I called after her as I ran through the hallway. "Cynthia!"

She turned around, her cheeks covered with tears. "What do _you_ want?" she snapped, her voice cracking. "Can't you see I'm enough of a wreck as it is?"

"Cynthia, it'll be okay," I said gently. "There will be other boys."

"No other boys like Mike," Cynthia shouted. "You don't understand what it's like!"

"Cynthia–"

"No! Shut up!" she cried.

"Cynthia, I _do_ understand," I said quickly. "Don't you think I do after what happened to Grace?"

"You hated her," Cynthia spat.

"_Hated_ her?" I repeated. That one was new. "I didn't hate her, Cyn."

"Shut up," Cynthia shouted. "Only my sister calls me that!"

"Your sister has a way of rubbing off on people," I said.

"If you're not going to help, then go away!" Cynthia yelled. "I want to be alone!"

"I can understand that, Cynthia," I said. "Of course I understand that. I understand what it's like to be…unloved."

"You live with your best friends," Cynthia shot back. "You _have_ a girlfriend. Don't you tell me what it's like to be unloved."

"That's not what I'm trying to do, Cynthia," I said softly. "You have to listen to me – just listen for a second, okay?"

"I don't _want_ to listen," Cynthia spat.

"Yes, you do," I said calmly. "You _do_ want to listen, because you _do_ want to know what it is I'm going to say, because you're curious. You've only heard Jessica's side of the story, not mine, and so you're curious about what my side could possibly be. It's only human."

"Shut up," Cynthia muttered.

I gave a small, wry smile. Then I grew serious again. "Listen, Cynthia," I said softly. "All my life, people have hated me – even before Grace. I never knew why, but for some reason, people just didn't seem to…_hear_ me. I used to ramble on and on about nothing in particular and when I was done, nobody would have heard a word I said. So eventually, I stopped trying. That didn't help, of course." I stopped to make sure Cynthia was listening. She was turned away, but I could tell that she was. "So instead, I tried to hang out with Emmett – he's that _really_ big guy. He wound up hating me instead." I smiled to myself at that. "Grace came along, and she was really the first person who ever liked me. Charlotte and Peter just decided to because it wouldn't be worth it if we fought – so it was kind of forced. But Grace…she _liked_ me."

"Have you ever thought that there's a good reason that nobody likes you?" Cynthia interrupted coldly.

"Actually, I have," I said coolly. "Several times, in fact. And yet, I can't really bring myself to change so they do – because then I wouldn't be _me_. Understand?"

"Sort of…" Cynthia said slowly.

"Well, anyway, since Grace was the first person to like me voluntarily, I had to get to know her better. You'd do the same, wouldn't you?"

"Probably…"

"And so we started dating," I went on, trying to make this sound casual, though it hurt me deep inside. "And we saw each other every day, and we became best friends. I knew everything about her, and she knew everything about me, and do you know why?"

Cynthia shrugged. "You're both predictable?"

"No," I said flatly. "We made an _effort_. I tried my hardest, Cynthia – I really did. Here was the only person that had ever loved me, and I couldn't love them back. The world's really sick and twisted that way, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh," said Cynthia, looking at me skeptically.

"And then that sick, twisted world decided to make me feel even guiltier. Grace disappeared, and it wasn't my fault; I swear it wasn't. But do you know how bad that feels? Knowing that the only person who's ever loved you is gone, and you couldn't even love them back?"

Cynthia stared at me a moment. "You're trying to make me feel stupid, aren't you?" she said quietly.

"Stupid? No. Better? Yes."

"You're not making me feel better."

I raised an eyebrow. "Should I just tickle you, then?"

"What? No." Cynthia looked shocked at the thought.

"Anyway, just know that I know how you feel. This isn't the end of the world. You _will_ find a better guy – one that loves you for who _you_ are, not because you're new here. Because even through all that, I managed to find Alice, and if I can do that, there is no doubt in my mind that you can find somebody, too."

"You really think so?" Cynthia still looked skeptical.

"I _know_ so," I said. "Now, if I were you, I'd get yourself cleaned up and looking presentable so that you can make _Mike_ regret breaking up with you after Isabella rejects him."

"_She's_ going to reject _him_?" Cynthia looked incredulous.

"You'd be surprised," I said with a smile. "Now go on; clean yourself up." Cynthia returned my smile and headed towards the girls' bathroom. "Oh, and Cynthia?" she stopped and turned to look at me. "I'll always be here if you need me." Cynthia nodded and continued on her way.

APOV

After school that day, Cynthia walked into my room with her nose to the ground. "Cynthia?" I asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"

She looked up at me, her eyes wet. "Mike broke up with me," she said.

"What? When?"

"At lunch," she said sadly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I gasped, surprised.

"Because," Cynthia mumbled. "Jasper talked to me."

"He what?"

"He talked to me," Cynthia repeated a little bit louder. "He told me to make Mike feel jealous about _me_. So he said to pretend like nothing happened."

"Well, he told you right," I said, still surprised. _Since when was Jasper a wiz at talking to teenage girls?_ I thought faintly. "That boy deserves to suffer for breaking my sister's heart."

Cynthia gave a little smile. "He also said that the new girl was going to reject him."

"I'd like to see that," I said, amused at the thought.

"I'd _love_ to see that," Cynthia agreed. Then she grew serious again. "Alice? Why did he dump me?"

I thought about that for a moment. "Because he thought you'd be popular," I decided to say. "He wanted the attention from dating the new girl – he knew he'd be recognized for it. And now that there's _another_ new girl…you're not so new anymore."

I heard Cynthia mumble something unintelligible, but since Mike deserved it, I smiled. "You got that right," I muttered.

JPOV

I had no other place to go besides home – and I didn't want to go there. I was concerned about Cynthia and I wanted to see Alice. All these reasons pointed directly to Alice's house.

I'd been there many times before, but never inside – unless you counted one step. The house always gave me the feeling that I was not welcome there – but not today. It was as if Cynthia's trust earned the house's trust, too.

I sucked up all my courage and knocked lightly on the front door. Alice answered it, surprise etched on her face as she saw me. "Hey, Jasper," she said. "What's up?"

"I just came to see if Cynthia was all right," I said quietly. Then I smiled. "And to see my favorite girl, of course."

Alice rolled her eyes, but smiled, too, and she opened the door wider. "Come in," she said.

Hesitantly I stepped through the door, and Alice closed it behind me. "She's been holding up okay," Alice explained. "But she's never going to forget Mike, I'm afraid."

"Did you forget _your_ first boyfriend?" I teased, partly because I really wanted to know.

Alice got a thoughtful look on her face as she thought back to her boyfriend-filled years in L.A. "Um…I think his name was Jared, or something. John, maybe." I let out a laugh.

"Well," I said. "That makes _me_ feel better."

Alice hit my arm playfully. "Oh, shut up. You'll be fine." She said.

"Well, good," I said smugly. Alice laughed and hit my arm again.

Cynthia emerged then, looking solemn but otherwise okay. She spotted me and gave a little smile and a nod of acknowledgment. "Hi, Jasper," she said softly.

"How're you holding up?" I asked her sympathetically.

"Fine. I'm using the angst of the situation to my benefit," she said proudly. "I'm going to make it much more angsty and overdramatic than it should be by writing it down in a descriptive manner."

"Uh-huh…" I said slowly.

"She's going to write about it," Alice whispered in my ear, though loud enough for Cynthia to hear. "And she's going to write about it _a lot_."

"Well, hey, that's what writers do," Cynthia said. "That's how they make _money_."

"Writing about every single thing they do?" I asked.

"No. Writing about every single thing they do in _detail_," Cynthia said with a grin. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" she turned and walked back to her room, almost running into the door.

"Does she do that often?" I asked.

"No. Only when she hits a bolt of inspiration," Alice said dryly. "We'll soon be seeing 563 pages solely about her breakup." **(A/N: New Moon, everybody. Read it. :p)**

"That would take a while, wouldn't it?"

"Not for Cynthia, it wouldn't," said Alice.

"What could she possibly talk about for 563 pages?"

"She'll find a way," Alice said.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

That was the first night I'd spent over at Alice's. Her dad was home and her sister was right next door, so we didn't try anything, but it was nice all the same. I wouldn't ask for anything more.

**Anything? That's gotta be cool. Sigh.**

**Right. No offense to twilight lovers – you know, the ones that can't stand a joke about Twilight and hate everything about this site because it changes the way things are supposed to be? And no offense to twilight lovers that **_**aren't**_** insane but love the series all the same, such as myself. New Moon is actually a very good book, and if you haven't read it yet – well, first of all, what are you doing here? Second of all, go read it.**

**The whole New Moon thing is just a joke – the people that hate Twilight always say that that's exactly what the book is – 563 pages about her breakup. Of course, it's not – it's got Jake – but it does kind of come close…still, very good book and I mean no offense.**

**Sorry about the long explanation – just want to make sure you get my point. Ha-ha. Review! Request! And, um…pie!**


	15. Forgotten Vision

**Oh, there my reviewers are! Sometimes you all need a little push.**

**So thanks to Adi=], Randomenated-Cullen, 0littlestar0, skarpia, Pie, and of course, Megan Geyer, who has reviewed for every chapter so far. ;p**

**Now we are almost to 50 reviews, which means we've almost beaten Persuasion! Don't slow down the pace people – keep reviewing at the accelerated rate. I think I deserve it, considering all the drama I'm giving you and an update every day, but then again, maybe you think I don't. But I think I do. :D**

JPOV

I found myself spending even more time with Alice, if that was possible. I hardly went home anymore.

I knew I was putting Charlotte and Peter at risk by leaving them alone with Maria all the time, but I was pretty sure they could handle it. If Maria decided to fly off the handle, I hoped that they would have enough sense to run – but even if they didn't, Maria wouldn't hurt them.

Cynthia didn't sit with Mike anymore, because that would be too awkward, so instead we let her sit with us. It was silent for a little while, with her being the only freshman at the table and her old hatred of Charlotte, Peter, and I hanging over us like a cloud of dust – but after a while she fit in perfectly, almost as if she'd been there her whole life. She and Charlotte, though almost complete opposites, hit it off quite well, and though that made Peter a third wheel, Cynthia got along with him, too.

Spending all my time with Cynthia and Alice meant that I couldn't spend as much time with Charlotte and Peter. Still, they didn't seem to mind. In fact, they seemed happy for me. Best friends were funny that way.

APOV

The pace of the visions slowed, and though they occurred, they didn't occur that often. It was a good thing, too, because I didn't think I could stand seeing that many pictures in my head, especially since Jasper started hanging around more.

Rosalie seemed more tolerant to Jasper now, which was pretty ironic, considering she was going out with Emmett. There were only so many hours in the day, and there was hardly any time for 'girl time'. I didn't think there was a time when I wasn't with Jasper and Rosalie wasn't with Emmett – at least, not at the same time. This meant that I got to hang around with Emmett a little more, and Rosalie got to hang around with Jasper.

I didn't know how Jasper felt about that, but he didn't seem to mind. He didn't seem to dislike Rosalie, and he didn't seem to like her, either. She was just there. It didn't make a difference to him.

After a little while, I decided to try my hand at drawing out my visions. Of course, I wouldn't use the special notebook with my mother's sketch and the sketch of Jasper in it, but instead I used another notebook that had very little drawings inside – plenty of room.

When I was finished, I found myself looking at a whole lot of Bella and Edward. There were several of the same one – Edward reclining from Bella in the science lab, and Bella looking hurt and confused. There were also numerous ones of Bella thrashing about on a bed – a bed that must be hers. In the visions I heard her mumble something. Mostly Edward's name. I thought about putting words into my drawings, but in the end decided it would be immature to write speech bubbles in my drawings. These weren't cartoons.

It wasn't long before the notebook was filled up, and so I just went and got out another one, and drew more pictures of Edward and Bella.

JPOV

One night, I heard Alice mutter in her sleep. It was hard to make out what she was saying, but leaning close I could faintly make out what she was murmuring. "Jasper…run…run…run, Jasper…don't give up now…"

I pulled away, surprised. She was dreaming about _me_? Well, I suppose I wasn't too surprised about that; we _were_ spending every waking moment together. What I _was_ surprised about was that she was dreaming about somebody chasing me. That could always be a hidden fear, caused by not wanting me to be hurt, and yet…it seemed more than that. It seemed…real somehow, as if simply because Alice dreams it, it shall become true.

_That's silly_, I thought. _Is it?_ Another part of my mind shot back. _Yes_, said the first part of my mind that didn't know when to shut up. _Can you be sure of that?_ Asked the second part. And before that annoying first part of my mind could protest, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to make more sense out of Alice's dream.

APOV

In the second notebook of mine, there were more pictures of Edward and Bella, but something else, too. It kept appearing, so fast that I could hardly see it coming. I'd stop in the middle of what I was drawing and flip to a new page, take my pencil in hand and scribble down what I saw as fast as possible – but it was gone before I could finish, and I found myself staring at a bunch of squiggly lines instead of my vision.

It kept coming, and every time it did I attempted to draw it, realization flowing through my mind as I realized what was going to happen, and every time the vision was disappear in the blink of an eye, and I could never remember what it was.

I couldn't remember my dreams anymore, either. I had a feeling they were connected to whatever vision kept disappearing, and yet I could not pinpoint what exactly it was. It was always gone.

It occurred to me to write it down in words, and I tried that once, but the vision disappeared even quicker than usual, and I found myself staring at simply: _Jasper_. Well, that was helpful.

JPOV

"Hey," I spun around to see none other than Edward Mason jogging towards me, a sheepish look on his face. "Jasper! Wait up." I stopped and raised my eyebrow. Edward was to me in almost no time at all – he was a pretty fast runner.

"Edward?" I asked, just to make sure. "Do you need something? A homework assignment or maybe you dropped something in my backpack?"

Edward stared at me straightly. "Oh, come on, Jasper," he said. "Don't do that. I need to talk to you."

"Yeah?" I raised my eyebrow again. "About what?"

He sighed. "Look, Emmett's not helping – not like he said he would, anyway – and I need someone to talk to about…" he trailed off, then added in a voice so soft I could hardly hear it. "Girls."

I snorted, trying to hold back my laughter. "You want to talk to _me_ about _girls_?!" I asked in disbelief. Edward blushed and looked at his feet. "Well, I'm sorry to break it to you, Mason, but I don't know a thing about girls."

He looked at me straightly. "Yes you do," he said.

"No…I really don't."

"You do," he insisted. "You just don't know you do."

"That makes no sense whatsoever," I said.

Edward sighed. "You are actually very good at talking to people," he said. "You always know the exact right thing to say. And it's all split-second – as if you aren't even trying."

"I'm not," I said slowly.

"You _have_ to be doing _something_," Edward said desperately.

"Sorry, Ed. I've got nothing." Edward groaned to the sky. "Why?" I asked suspiciously. "What girl are you wondering about exactly? It matters, you know."

Edward looked embarrassed, looking at his feet as he mumbled. "Bella Swan."

"Bella Swan?" I cried. Edward blushed even deeper at my tone, and he put a finger to his lips. "Oh," I whispered. "Sorry." He rolled his eyes.

"Have you got any advice or what?" he demanded.

"My guess…" I thought for a moment. "I'd say just go on up and try your luck. Say hello, at least. Make small talk. Ask her where she came from, why she's here, and all that jazz. If she answers all your questions, you've got a winner – it means she likes you. Then you just go up and ask her out."

"That's it?" Edward looked incredulous. "There's no…boyish charm involved? No…compliments, no dazzling smiles?"

"Well, of course there's that," I said. "How could you expect any different? But you don't have to _try_. Don't be self-conscious about that. If you like something about her, compliment it. If you think of something charming to say, say it. If you're happy and want to smile, make the smile dazzling for all I care. It's not rocket science."

"You make it sound easier than it is," said Edward.

"Yeah, I know. I haven't thought about it much, really. I never thought I'd see the day that Edward Mason asks _me_ for advice on girls," I said with a smile.

Edward looked at me for a little while. "You know, Jasper," he said. "You're not half bad."

**Okay, I'm really getting quite impatient. I have an awesome idea how to end this, but it takes place around the summer-time, and so that means I have about three months to kill.**

**What do I do? Skip ahead, leaving a huge gap in between, or can you think of something to put into the gap? Some Cynthia action, perhaps? Perhaps you can find something to do with her? Perhaps more Edward and Bella – though I don't know how much I can say, really – perhaps something with Rosalie and Emmett. Perhaps we can put in some comedy, and get revenge on Mike?**

**I really have no clue, so PLEASE tell me. I know you guys are out there – and there are quite a lot of you, too. Most of you don't even review.**

**Yes. I know.**

**Request, please! I won't even tell you to review, because requesting is the key, here! I need I have an awesome idea how to end this, but it takes place around the summer-time, and so that means I have about three months to kill.**

**What do I do? Skip ahead, leaving a huge gap in between, or can you think of something to put into the gap? Some Cynthia action, perhaps? Perhaps you can find something to do with her? Perhaps more Edward and Bella – though I don't know how much I can say, really – perhaps something with Rosalie and Emmett. Perhaps we can put in some comedy, and get revenge on Mike?**

**I really have no clue, so PLEASE tell me. I know you guys are out there – and there are quite a lot of you, too. Most of you don't even review.**

**Yes. I know.**

**Request, please! I won't even tell you to review, because requesting is the key, here! I need YOU in the story. I need more of YOUR ideas. This is hardly a request story – really. Ideas, people. Don't call me lazy, because I have the awesome ending, the awesome beginning, and most of the awesome middle, too. Can't you put in **_**something**_**?**

**But really, thanks for the reviews. I just need a couple requests to even them out – wouldn't you agree?**


	16. Double Date

**Thanks SO much to Randomenated-Cullen, Pie, and Adi:] for requesting. I actually have something to work with now! To follow Adi:]'s request, which is to follow Bella and Edward around, I can either combine it with Randomenated-Cullen's request to make one über-awesome chapter or put it in another POV. I **_**could**_** decide to put it in Edward or Bella's POV…well, we shall see what I come up with, shan't we?**

_Friday_

APOV

There was a thrum of excitement in the air as I got out of bed. Jasper was gone, so he must have woken up before me. Again.

Whenever Jasper woke up before me, which was every single morning, he rushed off as fast as he could to his house. I didn't get what was wrong with _my_ house, but maybe he just had his stuff over there.

Since Jasper was gone, I took out my notebook with the visions of Edward and Bella, and I just started to doodle. I wasn't drawing anything in particular this time–no visions or weird vibes or anything–I was just drawing for fun.

When I was done, I found myself looking at a brilliant rose that filled up the entire page.

Smiling happily to myself, I set down the notebook and got ready for school, Cynthia not far behind. She was looking happy and sad at the same time.

"What's up, Cyn?" I asked as I ate an amazingly-made bowl of cereal. "Is your story going okay?"

"It's going fine," Cynthia murmured. "But I can't help thinking that there's something I'm missing. I've got the perfect plot, too–it's about a girl that fell in love with a vampire–(**A/N: Sound familiar?)** and I've gotten how he leaves her and everything. But…now what? How does he come back?"

"What makes you think he should come back?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Cynthia stared at me.

"It's a story, Alice. Of _course_ he comes back."

"You know, he doesn't have to," I said, scooping up a spoonful of the cereal and stuffing it in my mouth. I swallowed it. "Stories don't always have happy endings."

"Yes, but I can't stop it there," Cynthia protested. "There's no _plot_. And what am I supposed to do–kill her? I can't _kill_ her, Alice."

"Well, I'm not a writer, Cyn – I'm an artist. I don't get ideas like that. But I'm sure you'll come up with something."

Cynthia walked off, mumbling something under her breath about how useless people were. I smiled to myself.

JPOV

I arrived at school with Charlotte and Peter. They climbed out of the car and waved goodbye to me, hurrying off quickly. I stared at them suspiciously–Alice was nowhere in sight. Why would they hurry off? Were they mad?

"Hey, um…Jasper," I turned around and saw Edward Cullen, looking so young and nervous, yet still gorgeous at the same time.

"Oh, hey, Edward," I said. I was a bit surprised that he was talking to me again. It sounded like a one-time thing to me. "How'd it go with Bella?"

"She said yes," Edward said, biting his lip. "But I'm scared. I don't think I can go on a date with her alone. Would you…double date with me?"

"A double date…" I thought about that. "Well, I guess it depends on what the girls think. Have you asked Bella about it?"

"No…?" his uncertainty made it a question.

"Oh, well, you should," I said. "Girls get really mad when you decide things without them. So that's why I can't accept until I talk it over with Alice–I'm sure it'll be fine, though. Alice loves helping people, and Bella doesn't seem like the kind of girl that would be completely comfortable alone with…you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Edward asked angrily.

"Means that you're very intimidating," I said with a grin. "She'd be too dazzled by your awesome skills to say a word."

He knew I was joking, so he rolled his eyes and smiled wryly. "Okay, so if the girls are okay with it, can we meet tomorrow night?"

"If the girls are okay with it, sure," I said with a shrug. "Okay, so go find Bella, and just go right on out and ask her. It's okay to look nervous–as long as you don't barf. If you look nervous, Ed, then she'll be complimented by that. I don't think she had very many boyfriends back in Phoenix." Edward raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt that," he said.

I smiled. "Of course you do."

APOV

"Hey, Alice," Jasper called, jogging up to me. "How's my favorite girl today?"

"Very well, thank you," I said with a curtsey and a grin. "What about you?"

Jasper grimaced. "Well, I've had better days. But so far it's going pretty good." He slid his arm around my waist. "Hey, you know Edward?"

"Mason? Yeah, of course. He took me to that carnival." I blushed, thinking of the carnival where we'd walked together in the woods. "Why?"

"Well, he talked to me today," he said quietly.

"Huh? Why?" I gasped, thinking of Emmett. "Did he hurt you?" He looked at me for a moment.

"No, he didn't hurt me," he said, rolling his eyes. "He isn't as big as Emmett. Don't call me a wimp, Ali. It never turns out well when people do things like that."

"Okay, okay, sorry," I muttered. "So what did he say?"

"He…" Jasper trailed off for a moment, a mischievous glint in his eye. Then he gave a wry smile. "He asked Bella Swan out. He wants us to double date tomorrow."

I gaped, slapping him on the arm. "You don't want to go?" he asked innocently.

"You made me worry," I scolded. "Don't do that. You don't want me calling the fire brigade."

"Fire brigade?" Jasper repeated, confused. "What would _they_ do?"

"I don't know…" I admitted with a grin. "But they're _professional_."

"Sure, sure," Jasper said dismissively. "So do you want to go?"

"Haven't you already said no?" I asked, confused. That's what it sounded like by his tone.

"No," said Jasper. "I told him that the girl is always important, and if you make a decision without consulting your girl, your girl will get angry, and she will not be your girl anymore. She will be your _ruler_." He said the last word in a spooky voice.

"I'm _already_ your ruler," I protested. We laughed. "Sure," I said. "I'll go if you want to. I wouldn't think you'd be interested in helping Edward Mason."

"Yeah," Jasper said with a shrug. "I don't know. He just flat out asked me like that–that kind of caught me off guard. It got me thinking that maybe he wasn't so bad after all. I want to help him."

I raised my arms and let them fall to my sides. "Well, there you go. Looks like we're on for Saturday. Hey – I just got an idea! We could–oh…no. Never mind."

"What?" Jasper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was just going to say…we could make it a triple date with Rosalie – but I know how much you hate Emmett, so…"

"Hate is such a strong word," said Jasper. I raised an eyebrow.

"So you don't?"

"Hmm…well, maybe I do," he admitted. "But I don't want that to get in the way of your fun. Invite Rosalie and Emmett–we'll see what happens."

I looked at him suspiciously. "What're you up to?" I said slowly. Jasper looked shocked.

"Why, nothing!"

"What're you up to?" I repeated, making it sound like a threat.

He sighed. "I just want to see how Emmett's going to react," he admitted. "It'd be pretty funny, don't ya think?" I thought about that for a moment.

"Yes," I said with a smile. "It would."

JPOV

I had never met Bella Swan before, and so I decided it might be best if I did. She'd probably find me a big creep, but hey, at least I was a big creep that knew Edward!

I found her at the water fountain, trying to get a drink of water without getting it all over her face. She wasn't succeeding very well.

I slid in next to her smoothly. "You're Bella Swan, aren't you?" she abandoned her task of drinking water and straightened, stunned.

"Y-yeah…" she stammered.

"I'm Jasper Whitlock," I said with a smile, holding out my hand for her to take. She did, but hesitantly.

"Nice to meet you," she said slowly. I could only imagine her confusion. It made me want to laugh.

"I'm a friend of Edward's," I explained. This wasn't necessarily true, but I didn't want to tell her about the double date before Edward did. "I thought I ought to get to know you better–or at least introduce myself formally."

"Oh," said Bella, seeming to perk up almost automatically. Edward usually had that effect on people. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Jasper." She sounded like she meant it this time.

I gave her a twisted half-smile. "You too, Bella. Who knows – we could wind up seeing each other again soon." I gave her a little wave, turned, and walked away. If I knew the world, which I did, I knew that the confused look was probably back.

APOV

"Hey, Rose," I called, jogging up to the beautiful blonde that was several feet taller than me. She turned to look at me, smiled, and waved.

"Hey, Alice," she said cheerily. "What's up?"

"Well, I know this is last minute and everything, but do you think you could go on a Triple Date?"

"Triple?" Rosalie asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Edward asked Jasper for a Double, and I thought it might be fun to have a Triple. Bad idea?"

"Why would _Edward_ ask _Jasper_?" Rosalie murmured, half to herself. "He's Emmett's best friend."

"I don't know," I said with a shrug. "But it sounds fun to me. But maybe Emmett wouldn't want to–"

"We'll do it," Rosalie piped up. "This is going to be fun! Who's Edward's date?"

"Bella Swan," I said. Rosalie gasped.

"The new girl?" I nodded. "Aw, man, Mike's been trying to get at her for a week!"

"Rose…" I said quietly, shaking my head.

"What?"

"Get at her?" I repeated.

"Oh. Well, he has."

"Gross," I muttered. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"Grow up, Ali. This isn't grade school. It's not like he's been _succeeding_," She said. We were silent for a moment. This wasn't a good topic to be on.

"Okay, well I'll see you Saturday, then?"

"Sure, okay."

"I'll call you for more details," I said with a little wave, walking off before things could get even more awkward.

**Okay, I wanted to continue – I really did – but I'm going to Raging Waters soon and I needed to wrap things up.**

**Raging Waters is basically the only theme park I'll go to, since I don't like roller coasters, and so now we finally have something to do! Horray!**

**Review! Request! Pie! (That's my new motto)**


	17. A Night to Remember

**All right! Thanks for reviewing everybody! We have now beaten Persuasion!**

**Lucky for me, all the requests I got had one thing in common: kill Mike. No, I'm kidding. They didn't say to kill him.**

**But wouldn't that be nice?**

_Saturday_

APOV

I looked myself over in the mirror skeptically. I had no idea what we were doing for the Triple Date–the boys had decided to make it a surprise. I didn't know if I should dress fancy or casual–or somewhere in between.

Finally, I decided on a long-sleeved dark purple blouse with a black rose design on it and jeans. It looked a little western, in a way, but I didn't care.

"Hey, Alice," Cynthia walked into the room with a thoughtful look on her face. "Are you _sure_ you don't have _any_ idea what I could–" She stopped and looked at me. "You look like a cowgirl," she said.

I scowled. "I do not," I protested.

"Yes–you do," said Cynthia matter-of-factly. "Not only that–you look like a really _short_ one. Like one of those dwarves that shaved his beard and cut his hair to look like a pixie and put on a cowboy outfit."

I stared at her for a moment. "What?"

"Just–you look like a cowgirl."

I stared at her again. "So...?"

Cynthia sighed. "Never mind. Are you _sure_ you can't give me _any_ ideas for my story?" I shrugged.

"Sorry, Cyn. I got nothing."

She gave an exasperated sigh and turned to the door–then stopped. "Where are you going tonight?" she asked slowly.

I looked at her, confused. "Rosalie and I are having a Double Date." This wasn't completely true–but I thought that mentioning Bella might hurt Cynthia's feelings. After all, it was Bella that caused her and Mike to break up.

Cynthia raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't Emmett put Jasper in the ER a couple months ago?"

"We're trying to see if we can get them to get along," I said.

Cynthia just stared at me. "Okay," she said, though she didn't sound like she believed me. "Have fun, I guess."

JPOV

The date started at three o' clock, which gave me enough time to prepare. "Hey, Char," I called. "Do you think I should bring a knife?"

"No," said Charlotte, looking kind of bored. "He's Emmett–not King Kong. You'll be fine. Just don't make him mad."

"Oh, he's already mad, Char," I said, looking at her seriously. "He's steaming mad by now. He's going to be look for a fight."

"No knives," Charlotte said, looking at me sharply.

"Fine," I muttered. "What about pepper spray?"

She stared at me for a moment. "We don't _have_ pepper spray," she said.

"Can we _buy_ some?" She just stared at me. "What?"

"I'm looking at a big weenie right now," she said coolly.

"Hey, he put me in the Emergency Room," I protested. "Twice. I'm not looking for a third time."

Charlotte shrugged. "There are witnesses," she said.

"What if the girls go to the bathroom or Emmett asks me to talk to him somewhere, or what if we get lost?" I protested. "There won't be witnesses _then_."

"Don't get lost, then," she said simply. "And if he asks to talk to you, make sure it's a decent distance from everyone else. You're putting too much into this, Jasper. Stop worrying so much; you'll be fine."

"You know," I said, "If I'm not, I'm blaming you."

"You do that," said Charlotte, walking away.

APOV

I heard Cynthia open a door in the distance. "Hey, Jazz," she said with what sounded like false enthusiasm. "How ya doin?"

I heard Jasper's voice in a quiet answer.

Wanting to figure out what it was, I raced down the hall to the front door, where I found Jasper looming in the doorway. "Hey, Jazz!" I said with real enthusiasm. "How're you doing?"

"Well, I must say, not as well as you are," Jasper said with a smile. "Come on. We don't want to be late. I'll see you later, Cyn."

"Goodbye, Jasper," said Cynthia with a grin.

On the way to the mall where we were meeting everyone else, Jasper said, "I think Emmett's going to kill me."

I looked at him, surprised. "He'd never do that!"

"He's already tried on numerous occasions," said Jasper, not looking at me. "What makes you think he won't try again?"

"Because I won't let him," I said boldly. He looked at me, amused. We both knew that I stood absolutely no chance against Emmett McCarty, and thinking otherwise was absurd, but if making that claim made my Jasper feel better, than I would do it.

I would do anything.

BPOV

The doorbell rang, and I went to go answer it. I opened the door, and there he was–Edward Mason, standing there in all his glorious beauty. His clear, green eyes showed slight fear, but mostly boldness and even a hint of admiration. His bronze hair was positioned perfectly on his head, and he held a single red rose in his hand.

I gave a small gasp at how stunning he was. "Hello, Bella," he said in a quiet voice that was as smooth as silk.

"Hi," I managed to squeak out.

He held out the rose. "Um…I got you this."

"Thank you," I said quietly, taking the rose from his hand. Desperate to get some air, I said, "Let me see if I can find a vase for this. Come in, come in."

He stepped into the house and closed the door behind him, looking around at the house as I hurried to the kitchen to find a vase. "Nice place you've got here," said Edward.

"Um…yeah. Thanks."

"Bells?" Charlie's voice echoed through the house as he came into view. "What's going on–" He caught sight of Edward. _Oh, crap!_ I thought.

"Charlie," I said quickly. "This is Edward. He's going to show me the town, right, Edward?"

"Uh, yes," Edward piped up. "There's not much to see, but someone's got to show her."

I was under the impression that Edward had done all of this before–this parental lying thing. I supposed we all had at one time or another, but he was pretty good at it. I didn't know if I cared.

"Yes," said Charlie, staring at him. He walked casually toward me and murmured in my ear, "I thought you said you didn't like any of the boys in town?"

"Edward doesn't live…_in_ town, technically," I said quietly so Edward couldn't hear. Charlie sighed.

"I'm gonna watch the rest of the game," he muttered, then turned and walked into the living room.

I turned to Edward. "Let's go," I said, then followed him out the door.

EPOV

"This is your _car_?" Bella gasped when she saw my silver Volvo.

"Yeah," I said quietly with a smile. "Carlisle gave it to me."

It was silent for a couple moments. "Who's Carlisle?" Bella asked.

"Oh–the doctor. We're good friends." I explained quickly as I opened the passenger's door and Bella slid in. I slid into the driver's side and started the engine. "He's been letting me live with him, actually."

Bella looked at me. "Why?" she asked worriedly. "I mean–what about your parents?"

"Oh, my dad died before I was born," I said quietly, "and my mom is really sick. She's in the hospital, actually."

"I'm sorry," Bella said sympathetically. I hated sympathy, but I looked at her and said,

"It's okay. Don't worry about it–she'll be fine." But the thing was, I wasn't sure anymore.

RPOV

"Hey, Rose," called my sister, Jenni, as she opened the door and walked into my room. "Emmett's here–what's wrong?"

I looked up at her solemnly. "Nothing," I said with a sigh. Jenni looked at me–she knew I was lying.

"What's wrong, Rose?" she said seriously.

"It's just…I can't help thinking that everything's about to fall apart," I said with a sigh, getting up off my queen-sized bed. "Is that crazy?"

Jenni thought about that, her violet eyes almost covered completely by her blonde bangs. "No," she said at last. "It's not. I've heard about intuition before, Rose. Sometimes it's wrong and sometimes it's not. But you know what you do when it all seems about to collapse completely?"

I stared at her a moment. When she didn't continue I said, "No. What?"

Jenni leaned in close as if she was about to tell a deep, dark secret; her eyes held a twinkle of excitement. "You enjoy what you have while it lasts," she said. She stood up, smoothing down her black shirt. "Now you go and you have fun with Emmett."

"Alright, Jenni," I said softly.

APOV

We all went to a little restaurant inside of the mall–it was a little crowded there, but not so crowded that we couldn't stand it.

We got a table for six and sat in the following order: Jasper, me, Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, and Bella. As long as Jasper and Emmett weren't right next to each other, anything was fine, but it was this order that suited us the best.

"So, Bella," Rosalie said smoothly. "How do you like Forks?"

"It's alright," Bella said timidly. "It's pretty green, though."

"Yeah," Rosalie murmured, nodding her head. "I hear it's very flat in Phoenix, though."

"Everywhere's flat compared to California," I piped up. Everyone stared at me for a second. "You know…" I added quietly. "Because of all the earthquakes."

The atmosphere was pretty awkward for a moment, now that Rosalie had used up our 'How do you like Forks' card–the card that was always played first for some strange reason.

"So," Emmett said, turning to Edward. "Edward. How's the doc? Has he grounded you yet?" There was amusement in his eyes. It took me a few moments, but eventually I pieced together the fact that 'the doc' was Carlisle.

"Grounded you?" Jasper repeated; Emmett's eyes spun to him with detest. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Um…I'm living with Carlisle now," Edward explained quietly. "He's pretty easy-going, actually. He lets me do whatever I want."

"Whatever you want?" Emmett repeated in awe. "Aw, man, that sounds sweet!"

"Not really," said Edward. "I mean–it kind of was at first, but…" he trailed off with a shrug. I supposed he expected us to understand, and though I had no idea–and, judging by the expressions around me, no one else did, either–I decided that if Edward didn't want to talk about it, then it was probably too horrible for me to ask without ruining the mood for the rest of the evening.

"But it's not the same as home," Bella finished for him with a look of tenderness on her face. Edward nodded. Okay…

"So," I spoke up, breaking the romantic mood. "I hear they've got great soup here."

JPOV

After we all ate our dinner, we headed to go see a movie. There weren't many good things out, but we decided that it was worth a shot if it occupied three hours of our lives.

We sat in a row in the following order: Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, me, Edward, and Bella. Bella wound up on the end again because she didn't really know anybody except Edward, and so it was him she ought to sit next to.

The room went dark and the opening credits materialized on the screen, and I could already tell that it was going to be a terrible movie. But at least there was Alice sitting by my side. Nothing could be _that_ bad when she was right there with me.

In the end, I was wrong. The movie _was_ that bad. I kept telling myself over and over that I'd seen worse things–things that I would never forget, no matter how much I wanted to. But the movie was _awful_, with terrible jokes and references that made me hate humanity for thinking of them.

At last, the agony was over, and one by one we filed out of the theatre. "Well, that was amusing," Rosalie muttered under her breath. It was now past sunset–the sun was out of view, but it was not yet dark enough for stars to appear.

"Alice?" I heard a familiar voice from behind me, and I turned to see who it was.

APOV

"Cynthia?" I gasped. There was my fifteen-year-old sister in all her splendor, which wasn't much. She hurried up to me, excitement on her face.

"I got bored, so I decided to see a movie," she said. "Were we in the same theatre?"

"I guess so," I said slowly.

Cynthia's gaze fell on Bella and Edward. "Oh," she said, her expression dropping. "Hello. What are you doing here?"

"We're on a Tr–" Bella began, confused.

"We were on a date, and we stumbled into these four, too," Edward spoke up, cutting Bella off. "Coincidences, coincidences."

"Oh, really?" said Cynthia, nodding slightly. Then she turned to me. "Alice? Can I talk to you?"

"Um…sure, Cyn," I said slowly, following Cynthia off to the side.

"Alice," Cynthia said. "I have decided that I hate Mike's guts."

"Uh-huh," I said slowly.

"I want to get him back," Cynthia said seriously. There was a hint of something wild in her eye. "I want to back him rue the name Cynthia Brandon. I want to make him suffer. Will you help me?"

"Well, I want to get him back too, Cyn, but you just can't–" Cynthia stared at me darkly, making me stop. "I can't just abandon Rosalie and Emmett," I whispered.

Cynthia shrugged. "Fine. Let them come, too. I'll bet they have a grudge on Mike, too. And even if they don't–I hear Emmett loves a good prank, and Rose would do it if you ask her to."

"I don't know, Cyn, I mean–" I stopped and shook my head with bewilderment.

"Why not?" Cynthia asked, anger in her eyes. He_ did this,_ thought to myself. _He caused that anger. He should suffer._

"Okay," I said, heading over to Rosalie and Emmett.

JPOV

"So what's the _plan_ here?" I whispered. We were now right under Mike's house with Rosalie and Emmett–Edward and Bella had gone home.

"Okay," Emmett said quietly, turning to the rest of us. "Here's what we're gonna do."

RPOV

I rang the doorbell, my heart thudding fast with anticipation. _Is this really going to work?_ I wondered to myself.

Mike answered the door, surprise etched on his face when he saw it was me. "Rosalie," he said. "H-hi."

"Hi, Mike," I said in a smooth voice. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"S-sure," Mike stammered, opening the door wider. "Come in."

"Mike," I said gently as I stepped inside the house; he closed the door behind me. "Sweet Mike. I knew I could count on you." Mike just stared at me, speechless. "Emmett broke up with me," I said, looking at my shoes. "I've never been more humiliated. What should I do?"

"Well, uh…Rose," Mike said, clearing his throat. "My advice to you is to get back on the horse; find someone new. I'm sure you'll find someone better than Emmett." _Better than Emmett,_ I thought to myself. _Ha!_

"How…insightful," I said slickly. "Have you ever thought about becoming a…therapist?" I made the word 'therapist' sound like a compliment. _I should really become an actress someday…_ I thought distantly.

Mike cleared his throat again. "Well, I've thought about a lot of things, Rose..." he began.

JPOV

"Can we really pull this off?" I whispered to Emmett.

"Oh, yeah," he whispered back. "This will be the easiest and most satisfying thing you've ever done." I raised an eyebrow.

"Somehow I doubt that, Emmett," I said quietly.

He shrugged. "True," he replied. "There _is_ sex…"

I rolled my eyes. "How do we get in?" I asked, getting straight to business.

"Through the window, of course," said Emmett, as if it was obvious.

"Emmett, the window is on the second level," I said.

Emmett grinned. "Climb on my shoulders," he said.

"What? No way," I protested. "You could kill me!"

Emmett looked thoughtful. "Really?"

Before Emmett got any ideas, I sighed. "Fine," I said, letting him give me a boost. "But if you kill me, I _will_ sue you."

"Sure, sure," Emmett said with a grin.

He lifted me up until I could reach the window. Stretching as far as I could, I grabbed it and pulled it open. Then I climbed through. I was pretty worn out by the time I made it, but I quickly regained my breath and let Emmett in through a lower window.

"Now what?" I asked quietly.

"Now," Emmett whispered with a devious look on his face, "We get everything we see and we put it in a bucket."

APOV

Now it was my turn. I rang the doorbell and waited anxiously. Rosalie's entrance was believable, but I didn't know if I could do the same. I wasn't anywhere close to an actress.

And yet, when Mike opened the door, I set into game mode, and my eyes were on the prize.

"Alice?" Mike asked, dumbfounded. "What are you doing here?"

"Mikey," I said innocently, batting my eyelashes. "Can we talk?"

"Uh…sure. But I kind of have someone over right now."

"Alice?" I heard Rosalie's voice from inside the house–we'd gone over this beforehand, and it was all according to plan. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" I shot back. "You said that you were staying home tonight."

"_You_ said that you were staying home tonight," Rosalie protested.

"I told you–_I_ wanted to talk to Mike," I growled.

"_I_ wanted to talk to Mike!"

"But I called him first."

"Girls, girls," Mike cried helplessly. "Calm down. We can work this out–"

"I'm _through_ putting up with you," I said, taking a step forward. "I'm _through_ covering for you. You are the worst person I've ever met!"

"Oh, yeah?" Rosalie said snidely, taking a step toward me. "Well, you can suck it."

Then we broke out into a catfight–an all-out catfight. We stood there, with hands flailing towards each other, and it was so absurd that if we had it on tape I was sure I would burst out laughing at it.

Then the doorbell rang, and Mike wearily went to answer it. "Cynthia?" came his voice, sounding so shocked it made me want to laugh. "What are you doing here?"

"Mike, I just wanted to say I forgive you," Cynthia said–she sounded so honest I would have been fully convinced if she said it to me. "And I hope that we can put all this behind us and be friends."

"Oh, thanks, Cyn," Mike said, sounding relieved. "This really means a lot to me. But this isn't a good time–"

"Alice?" Cynthia sounded shocked as she rushed inside the house. "Rosalie?" She turned to Mike, looking pissed. "_What_ are they doing here?"

"C-Cynthia–this isn't my fault; I swear!"

"Likely story," Cynthia snapped–Rosalie and I had stopped our cat-fight by then and were watching intensely. "Come on, you two. We're getting out of here." And then we stormed out of there with noses held high.

What a sight we must have been–a pixie-like cowboy, a tall, blonde beauty, and an elegant childlike girl walking out of Mike's house. As we shut the door we heard Mike cry out in surprise.

JPOV

Emmett and I ran out of there as quickly and as quietly as we could. We jumped straight out the window into the bushes, and we ran away as fast as we could. We soon met Alice, Rosalie, and Cynthia, and they ran with us, and when we were all finally out of breath we stopped and began to laugh.

"Oh, I wish I could have seen the look on his face," Cynthia gasped; she was actually tearing up.

"Oh, me, too," Emmett said. His face was red. "We poured a bunch of water from the toilet on him!"

"The _toilet_?" Cynthia cried. "You can't be serious!"

"Yup. No kidding," Emmett said proudly.

"God, that look on his face when he saw Cynthia was _priceless_," Alice said.

"I think he'll be remembering this for a long time," Rosalie agreed.

**********************

CPOV

I had finally gotten my revenge on Mike. So why didn't I feel any different? Why didn't I feel any better? That was how revenge was supposed to feel.

Instead, all I felt was empty as I began the long walk home. Alice–who I still called Mary when it was just me–had offered me a ride home, but I refused. I needed the time to think.

I didn't have a grudge against Mary anymore. I knew what she did wasn't her fault. She was just trying to protect me. In fact, after a while, I began to be almost grateful. There were too many bad memories back in L.A. I'd never fit in there. But really, it was Mike who had made it all better.

And yet, now that my old life was completely behind me, I just felt empty. I had a feeling that nothing was going to be different here in Forks–not anymore. I used to think I had a chance of being popular, or at least fitting in, but now I knew that everything was going to be just as it was back in L.A. Only colder.

I was going to be invisible–that girl in the back that never said anything. Whether I was beautiful or not, nobody would notice me. And why? Simply because I didn't have a very exciting personality.

I remembered Jasper's life story, and how well I could relate. Nobody really heard me, either. All my life, all I'd ever wanted was a boyfriend. That was all. I'd wanted one when I was three. I'd wanted one in kindergarten. I'd wanted one all through grade school–I'd had a crush on basically everybody for years. I'd wanted one during middle school, following people around with my eyes; trying to find someone I liked the best. And now I was beginning high school, and I'd finally gotten what I wanted. I'd gotten a boyfriend. But now it was gone, and I was single again. It was one of the worst feelings in the world.

As I walked in the cold of night, every breath I took a visible dragon's puff, I knew that if I was in Jasper's place, I would do every move exactly the same way. That was why I didn't hate him anymore.

"Excuse me," a rough voice came from behind me, and I turned, a little worried. "I haven't seen you around before."

The voice came from an extraordinary source. He was tall–_extremely_ tall. He towered way above my head. In the dark, I could make out very few features, but what I could see was that he was Indian, with dark eyes and long, black hair.

"Haven't you?" I cocked my head. "I've lived here for about five months. I'm Cynthia–Cynthia Brandon? I'm sure you've heard about me from _somebody_."

"I'm Jacob," said the boy politely. "Jacob Black. And, yes, I believe I've heard of you once or twice. You're Alice's sister–right?"

"Yes," I said through clenched teeth. "Alice's sister."

Jacob looked at me curiously. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I sighed. "Yeah, I guess," I said. "It's just frustrating sometimes–being compared to Alice all the time. It's like I'm invisible or something. I thought that would be impossible in Forks."

"You'd be surprised," Jacob said dryly. "Believe me, I know what you mean. Billy's son–that's me. If not that, than Rachel's brother. But I'm hardly ever Jake."

"Billy…that guy in the wheelchair down at La Push?"

"Yes. You learn fast," Jacob said.

I shrugged. "I surprise even myself," I said. "Hey, uh…would you help me get home? It's pretty confusing in the dark."

"Oh–sure," said Jacob.

BPOV

"Goodnight, Bella," Edward said quietly. "I'll never forget this night."

"Maybe next time we could go alone?" I asked. "I know I'd feel a lot more comfortable this time."

"Oh–sure," said Edward with a little smile. "I'd like that. He turned to leave.

"Edward," I called. He stopped and looked at me. "Before you go, I…" I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a long kiss. When I looked at him again, he had a look of surprise and amazement on his face. "Goodnight, Edward," I said softly, going into the house and closing the door.

**I am **_**so**_** sorry; I updated really late and I don't know if it counts for today or tomorrow to you. Probably tomorrow. Sorry!**

**But hey, this was **_**eight pages**_** on Microsoft, the longest chapter I've written yet. So I guess it's okay, right? Well, I suppose only you can decide that.**

**In the next chapter, we will be skipping to early June, where the fun can begin. ;D Heh-heh. You'll see the humor in that later.**

**Okay, thanks to Yellow, Adi, Randomenated-Cullen, crayola music, Pie, and teamtwilight27 for reviewing!**


	18. Dinner

**Warning: Alice and Jasper do a little…bonding in this chapter. You'll see what I mean.**

**Okay! Let's begin!**

_Two months later…_

JPOV

I rose out of bed and got dressed, then went to the kitchen to get breakfast, which, to me, was a bowl of cereal.

As I was eating, Maria walked into the room, and I instinctively grabbed my bowl to go eat somewhere else. "Jasper," Maria called after me. "Wait a moment. I want to talk to you."

I looked at her suspiciously, and then sank back down into my chair.

Maria sat across from me with a sweet, pleasant look on her face, and she watched me eat for a couple moments. Then she leaned forward. "Jasper," she said with a smile. "I've heard that you've got a new girlfriend." I froze, my spoon halfway to my mouth. Slowly, I put it back in my bowl and closed my mouth, looking at Maria with a mix of panic and fear. I couldn't speak–this was my worst nightmare.

Maria stared at me innocently. "Why didn't you tell me about it?"

After a couple moments, I was able to speak. "I don't know," I said quietly. "After Grace disappeared, I was a little hesitant."

"Oh, Jasper," said Maria with a sweet smile that was almost creepy. "I was hoping to put that behind us. I haven't had a real conversation with you for years."

I swallowed. "Uh-huh," I said shakily. "I really miss those."

Maria smiled again. "Why don't you invite her over?" she said. "We'll have dinner with her–get to know her."

"Oh–uh, I don't know if she can do that, Maria," I said quickly. "She doesn't like meeting new people very much." That, of course, was a big, fat lie. But I didn't care.

"Oh–well, I'll see if I can arrange it," said Maria sweetly, rising from the table and towards the phone. "It's Alice, right? Alice Brandon?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Yeah," I said; my voice sounded hoarse. "That's her."

APOV

I had to say, I was really surprised when I got a call from Jasper's mom inviting me to dinner that night. The Whitlock's had never invited me over before, and I'd been fine with that. They weren't used to having people over, and I knew I shouldn't press them–or ask at all.

But I couldn't help feeling a pleasant satisfaction come over me at the invitation. If I made it through this dinner and Jasper's mom liked me, then I would be completely official–like almost part of the family, just like Jasper was here. It would be perfect.

About a month ago, my dad finally got a girlfriend. She lived down in La Push and her name was Emma, and though it should have bothered me, it didn't.

For some reason, Mike dropped off the edge of the universe. Cynthia didn't talk about him, didn't mope over him–she didn't even think about him. Of course, I had no proof that any of these claims were true, but somehow I knew.

Cynthia often left the house. When I asked her where she was going, she simply replied, "La Push," which was an Indian resort with a pretty good beach. This always surprised me–Cynthia had never really been a beach person–but if it made her happy, then I was all for it.

One day, a couple days ago, Cynthia walked in with a dazed look on her face, and she said, without looking at me. "I've figured it out."

"Figured what out, Cyn?" I asked.

"My story–I've figured out the middle and ending."

"Oh. That's great, Cyn," I said with a smile. Cynthia nodded distractedly and exited the room, probably going straight to the computer to type the rest of those 563 pages.

JPOV

I spent the rest of the day burrowed in my room, refusing to leave even to wake Charlotte up. She probably was already awake, anyway.

At around three, Charlotte opened my door with Peter by her side. Then she stopped. "Jasper?" she asked, incredulous. "I thought you were at Alice's!"

"Alice is coming over here for dinner," I said quietly. I looked them over. "What's going on?"

Their hands were interlaced, and Charlotte and Peter dropped them regretfully. Peter's face was flushed, and Charlotte's hair was askew. "Uh…" Peter looked to Charlotte, because he was terrible at lying. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well?" I demanded.

"Jasper…Peter and I are…dating," Charlotte said quietly.

I stared at them for a few moments, and then said, "Well, it's about freaking time!"

APOV

I had no idea what to wear to the dinner, so I put on a nice, aqua blue top that flowed like water and jeans that flared. It was formal enough, but casual enough, too.

I was really nervous. This was the most nervous I'd been since I met Jasper at the carnival all those months ago. Luckily, I'd learned to control these nerves a little better, and this granted me access to speak. I didn't know if I would still be able to after I met Maria, but I decided that there was nothing I could really do about it anyways, and I was just going to have to count on fate to get me through this night.

I arrived at Jasper's house a little early, and so I waited in my car until I was right on time. I know that was silly, but I didn't want to come in early–just in case. Jasper opened the door with a smile on his face. "Alice," he said, his smile growing a little wider. "You're right on time!"

With a shy blush, I stepped inside Jasper's house, and he closed the door behind me. "Thanks for inviting me," I said quietly, looking around at Jasper's house. Strangely, it was very, very clean. I expected it to be a mess with three teenagers living here and only a thirty-five-year-old woman there to take care of them. But it was really cleaner than _my_ house.

"Alice," Charlotte and Peter came into the room, hand in hand. Both wore grins on their faces. I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "It's about freaking time," said Peter to Jasper.

"Inside joke," Jasper murmured into my ear. "I'll tell you later."

I nodded distractedly, my eyes fixed on Charlotte and Peter's entwined fingers. Charlotte stared back defensively, but she didn't say anything.

Then a beautiful woman stepped into the room, a smile on her face. Her hair was long and brown, flowing down to the middle of her back. Her skin had a slight tan to it, though she now lived in a sunless little town. Her lips were a beautiful, healthy pink, and her cheeks had a healthy flush. Her eyes were dark and mysterious, and her lashes were very long. She was gorgeous.

"Ah," she said, a slight Southern accent to her voice–so soft you could hardly hear it, "You must be Alice. I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Maria."

_Whoa_, I thought, stunned. _She's Maria?_ "Nice to meet you, too," I said coyly.

JPOV

We sat around the table with the food that Peter made in the middle, and it was almost like a real family for a while. But the look in Maria's eye ruined the moment, and it made me feel as if this was all a dream–that I was somebody else entirely and I would wake up tomorrow being simply Jasper again.

"So, Alice," Maria said politely. "What do you do outside school–besides meeting Jasper, of course? Do you play an instrument?"

"Um…no, but I draw," said Alice, looking at her plate.

"Oh, really?" Maria looked terribly intrigued, leaning forward in her seat as if she was about to pull out a notepad and take notes. "What do you draw?"

"Oh, just whatever comes to mind," Alice said faintly. "Nothing much." And then, to my deep belief, she fell silent, picking at her food. I wanted more than anything to warn her–to tell her to shut up and never answer directly–but I knew that if I did that, Maria would kill me. Literally. So all I could do was cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Maria leaned back, aversion on her face as she stared at Alice, but then she got over herself and smiled again, and nobody noticed but me. This sent a pulse of panic through my veins, but soon it was gone; there were more important things at hand.

"That's nice," she said. "Are you any good?"

Alice shrugged, a blush coming over her face. "I don't know if I could tell you that, Mrs. Whitlock."

"Oh–please, dear. Call me Maria," said Maria with a sweet smile that made my fists clench. She leaned forward again. "Alice, dear, if you truly are a good artist, I know a guy who can set you up, and then it won't be long before you sell a masterpiece."

"Really?"

"Oh, of course, dear. All I need is to see your best work and then I'll see what I can accomplish." Maria looked almost feral now. I wanted to stand up and run out the door, just like I had when I found out about Grace.

"I could sketch you up something right now," Alice offered.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Maria said quickly. "I wouldn't want you to do that. I'm sure you have plenty of other pieces at home. Simply bring one to me at your best convenient time and I will work my magic."

I stood up abruptly. Charlotte and Peter, who were holding hands across the table and murmuring excitedly, looked at me suddenly, confused. Alice had a look of concern on her face, and Maria? Maria looked like she wanted to murder me.

I stood there for a moment, breathing heavily and staring at Maria fixedly, and then, after a while, I said, "I'll be right back," and stormed off.

"Oh, he's just insecure," I heard Maria say to Alice as I walked away. "I think he's a bit overwhelmed that his girlfriend would get such a big opportunity…"

I went into my room and slammed the door, and then I fell onto my bed and began to cry.

APOV

Jasper honestly looked upset, and I couldn't stop looking at the place where he once stood, fuming, looking on the verge of tears. I was shocked, glued to my seat while Maria tried to shake it off and assure me that Jasper was fine.

I didn't know what kind of mother would just shrug off their son like that, and I didn't think I wanted to know. Maria rambled on and on and on and _on_, and all I wanted was to make sure Jasper was all right.

Slowly, I stood up, and again everyone froze. Again, Charlotte and Peter looked up, though both a little irritated now. Maria stared at me with sweet concern, but said nothing, waiting for me to speak up.

"I want to see if Jasper is okay," I said after a while. Now, finally, my voice was strong and sure–I'd never been so sure about anything before in my life. "Can I?"

"Oh, of course, dear," said Maria with a smile. She stood up as well and gestured to Charlotte and Peter to do the same; they did, though unwillingly, staring at Maria with confusion. "Come on, you two. Let's give Alice and Jasper some privacy. I'll take you both out for a movie, and then we'll get some ice cream."

The three of them headed for the door, Charlotte and Peter looking at each other as if Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum came in and announced that they were Charlotte and Peter's future. But they followed Maria with a shrug, simply because they would get something out of the deal.

"Oh, and Alice, dear," Maria added over her shoulder. "Don't worry about us coming back. It won't be for a long_, long_ time." I had a feeling that there was something I wasn't getting as Maria left, but I knew that I would never find out what it was.

Instead, I went to Jasper's room, a room I only knew was his because of stories Jasper had told me in our spare time. I knocked lightly on the door, and then opened it cautiously.

"Jasper?" I said quietly. "Are you okay?"

Jasper looked up at me, his face red and blotchy. "Yeah," he said with a sniff. "I'm okay. Tell Maria I'll be right out."

"Maria left," I said. "She took Charlotte and Peter."

Jasper cocked his head. "Well, that's strange," he murmured. It was quiet for a moment, and then. "Come here, Alice. I miss you."

"You've been with me for the past half hour," I said, but I did as he asked and sat beside him on the bed. He wrapped his arms around me.

"I still miss you, though," he murmured into my hair. He pulled me closer and kissed my neck. "I feel like we never see each other enough."

"I know," I sighed. "But we see each other every day. We can't get much closer than this."

"Come here," he whispered, and he gave me a deep, long kiss.

When he broke away, we stared at each other for a few moments, and then we leapt for one another. Our kisses became more urgent, and I knew that there was nothing that would stop me now.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The next morning, I woke up beside him; he was looking at me with love on his face. "That was amazing," I whispered.

He nodded. "I know," he said quietly. "I love you."

"Are you sure?" I said playfully. "It could just be a phase or something."

Jasper shook his head. "No," he said. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I said back.

**Alright! Stopping it there. Let's hope you understand what happened right there, because I suck at describing things like that. Blush all furiously and glance around, worrying that someone would find it.**

_**Please**_** tell me you got what happened. If you do: good. If you don't: you'll find out later.**

**Okay, I know I'm seriously behind here, and I will continue to be so. My piano teacher wants me to practice piano in all my spare time–like, 5 hours. So that leaves me will little free time. Also, I am going to see Death Cab tomorrow! And then an American Idol concert the day after that. So I'm busy then. And then I'm going to Texas next week–not **_**this**_** Monday, but next Monday. So I'll be gone **_**then**_**, too. I'm hoping I can get this done before I leave, but you never know.**

**Okay, thanks to Randomenated-Cullen and Jasperl0ve for reviewing! We have now beaten Rosalie's Exboyfriend, which was my first fic ever! So, now this has the most reviews of **_**all**_** my stories! Congrats!**

**Review! Request! Pie!**


	19. Mike's Suffering

**Okay, I think everybody got what happened at the end of the last chapter, which is a big relief. Now we can continue on to even **_**more**_** drama! Because drama is **_**awesome!**_** Especially if the drama is life-threatening! Otherwise it's kind of stupid…**

**Right! Continuing on!**

_Monday_

APOV

I woke up feeling nauseous, and so I ran to the toilet and threw up. I told my dad, and so he let the school know I was sick, and, to his relief, I told him that he didn't have to stay with me. He left hurriedly to go see Emma.

Cynthia was left without a ride to school, but she said it was no problem and called up a friend to take her. _That's funny_, I thought vaguely. _I didn't know Cynthia had friends._ But I was too sick to care.

At around noon, I started feeling a little bit better, so I went to the kitchen to eat a light lunch. As I was trying to find something that I wouldn't regret eating later, I remembered Jasper, and I wondered what he was doing at school without me. Would Emmett decide that today was the day to beat up Jasper at last? Without me there, would people finally decide that they'd had enough? Would Jasper live to regret this day?

All this worrying made me want to hop in the car at that moment, but, right when I was about to crack and do it, I had to throw up again. So much for that idea.

JPOV

Alice didn't show up to school that day, and of course I feared the worst. Was she missing? Did Maria already strike? Did I, perhaps, already spend my last moments with her? If so, what do I do? Go after her? Give up? Assume she's dead and 'follow her into the dark'?

Then, to my relief, Cynthia came up and told me that Alice was sick. _Well, that makes me feel kind of stupid…_ I thought to myself as I thanked her for telling me.

Now that I could stop worrying about Alice, I found myself stumped. Now what was I supposed to do? I'd grown so accustomed to Alice that I had no idea what to do without her. Of course, I could always catch up with Peter and Charlotte, but I didn't think I should intrude when they'd finally gotten their feelings sorted out. It would be terribly awkward if something happened to them right when they started going out.

So at lunch, I found myself just standing there with a tray. There was no other place for me to go than with my Alice, and since she might be gone for a couple days, I was going to have to find another place.

"Hey, Jasper," I heard a voice call. I turned towards the source and it was Edward, waving me over to his table. "Come sit with us."

I hesitated for a moment, thinking of Emmett, but then I decided that there was no harm in it–and I didn't have anywhere else to go, besides–and so I walked over with my tray and sat cautiously across from Edward and Emmett, who was sitting beside him.

"Hey, Jasper," Emmett said with a little smile. _Funny_, I thought. _I didn't know Emmett could make a little anything._

"Hi," I replied, my eyes switching back and forth from Edward to Emmett as if I was watching a ping-pong game. An awkward silence draped over us, a silence that I did not intend to break until one of them did. They must have anticipated a silence such as this when Edward invited me over. They both knew I wasn't one to fill the room with constant, meaningless jabber. I would sit here in silence all day if I had to.

Then Emmett said, "You should have seen what we did to Mike, Edward." And then he launched into a detailed description of exactly what we did to Mike, and when he was finished, none of us could help but laugh hysterically.

"We should have filmed it," I added. Thus the awkward silence was broken.

APOV

Prom was coming up fast–scheduled to be in a week. Jasper and I had already gotten it sorted out that we were going together at around Christmastime, and I was set on getting better in time for Prom.

I felt bad for poor Cynthia, who probably didn't have a date. I sympathized for her, as she was just starting high school, and the Prom is something she ought to be going to. And so I decided that I would buy her a nice dress that would be so beautiful, she would have to wear it to Prom, and she would go and meet a new guy–a guy that was mesmerized by her beauty–and then she wouldn't be single anymore. Then, perhaps, she would give up on writing those 563 pages, and maybe write something a little more…happy.

But of course I was going to have to get better first, before I did any of that. So that meant I was going to have to sit tight and cross my fingers.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

After school, Jasper came for a visit. He offered to make me some soup and get me anything I wanted–but all I really wanted was him. I did feel mostly okay, actually. I just couldn't eat anything.

And so we sat for a while and I asked if I could draw him, and he said okay.

I'd drawn Jasper many, many, _many_ times before–too many times, really. He was all I ever really did draw, besides Edward and Bella and Rosalie. So I didn't really need him to model at all. Still, seeing him in person made him easier to draw somehow, and I was able to make a sketch that was absolutely perfect.

"Are you going to give that one to Maria?" he asked me quietly when I was finished.

"Huh?" Truth be told, I'd forgotten all about Maria's offer. I loved drawing, and using it to earn a living would be wonderful, but it didn't seem more important than Jasper. When I did remember what he was talking about though, I said, "I don't know if I'm going to give her anything. It made you so upset..." I looked up at him, wondering if he was going to tell me why he was upset in the first place.

"Oh, I'm not upset about that exactly," he said thoughtfully, taking care with his words. "If anyone else were to give you that opportunity, you should take it–no doubt about it. It's just…I never trusted Maria with things like that. She's probably just pulling your leg or something."

"What? You mean this is a joke?" I asked. "Who'd pull a joke like that?"

"No, no, not a _joke_ exactly," Jasper said slowly. "I think she's just trying to find out more about you. She wants your drawing so she can figure out what's going through your mind when you draw. She probably doesn't even care if it's any good."

"Who would do that?" I asked, confused.

"Maria would," said Jasper. "She's done it before, I'll bet."

"Why?"

Jasper didn't reply for a long time. Finally, he said, "I don't know."

I raised an eyebrow. I didn't really believe him. But if he didn't want to tell me, I shouldn't pry. If things got really bad, I'd bring it up, but until then, I'd keep it to myself.

_Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday_

JPOV

As the week came to a close, I wondered about Alice. She still hadn't come to school all week, but when I visited her, she seemed fine. She told me that she always threw up in the morning, and then she'd feel better in the afternoon, and she didn't want to go to school for fear that she may throw up.

And so I brought her homework to her each day, and she did it willingly. She didn't seem to have any reason for skipping school, and if she did, she'd probably invite me to skip with her, and so I had to trust her when she said she was sick.

In Alice's absence, I always sat with Edward and Emmett. We had become good friends now, and Emmett didn't seem to hate me anymore. It was funny how Mike could bring us together–only Mike's suffering could do that.

Meanwhile, Mike couldn't get Bella, even though she sat with them still. She seemed to go for Edward instead, and it was also very amusing to see the way she glanced back at him. It was also hysterical to see her reject Mike time and time again. Mike's frustration was hysterical, and we often broke out laughing when Bella looked at him blankly. Mike would sometimes glance back at us angrily, but he never said anything, because that would make him sound even worse.

When I saw Peter and Charlotte, which was on rare occasion, they were always looking at each other with the kind of goo-goo eyes that only a new couple can have. They seemed to have looked upon each other with new light, and they were inseparable. The band seemed to have crashed and burned a long time ago, but it wasn't announced deformed just yet–we all knew Maria would be furious if it was. She'd spent a lot of money teaching us how to play instruments, as well as Charlotte's vocal training. So, for now, Forgotten was forgotten.

Life seemed pretty good for me at this time, but there were a few major drawbacks. Maria, for instance. She kept eyeing me with a look a lot like suspicion, but not quite. The looks led me straight to Alice's house, which wasn't a bad thing at all. I had a feeling my days with her were numbered somehow, but I tried to believe that everything would be okay, even though I knew my world would collapse into flames sooner than I hoped.

APOV

When Saturday came, I felt well enough to go dress shopping like I planned. I found shopping rather pleasant, but I wasn't that crazy about it. At least not with Jasper in my life.

I considered taking Cynthia so that I could determine her size and what she'd look good in, but she'd already rushed out the door to La Push before I could ask her. I was just going to have to go on what I knew already.

The mall was a little more crowded than usual, although not that much more crowded. There were precious few people in Forks, and the mall was usually as empty as a desert–I was surprised it stayed in business, actually. But with Prom just around the bend, there were a few girls here now looking for dresses, just like I was.

It wasn't hard to find the perfect dress for Cynthia–a floor-length silver one that shined like stars–but I couldn't say the same for me. I had to search for what seemed like hours before I found the perfect dress, which was a small, gray dress that reached just past my knees.

Next I had to find shoes. Again, Cynthia's weren't hard–just silver flats–and mine were considerably easy as well; gray high heels.

With the shopping done and everything sorted out, I headed home and waited for Jasper to arrive like he always did, with a very accomplished look on my face.

**Okay, I'm sorry for being a day late. Like I said, I was at a Death Cab concert–amazing, by the way–and I'm a little busy.**

**But I will say one thing. The totally awesome, epic, dramatic, suspenseful, amazing, and mind-blowing ending to this story will happen on Prom night. This is the next chapter. So for people a little bit slow: this means that the story will end in the next chapter, which may be up tomorrow or in a couple days, depending on how long it is.**

**No rushing. Rushing bad. It will all be up in a matter of time, I assure you. If you rush, then the chapter may be rushed, and that will not be good. Just so you know, the request option is now closed, because I have the entire thing planned out. So sad.**

**Thanks to Seth'sOneAndOnly, TeamEdwardBecauseJacobHasFlees, Adi, and Randomenated-Cullen for reviewing, by the way. You guys all rock, and we have reached the 65-review mark! Hopefully we can reach 75 before this story is over–so feel free to review twice!**


	20. The Final Chapter

**Here it is! The chapter we've all been waiting for! The ****final**** chapter! This, like many final chapters, has all the answers you've been waiting for! And, like most (if not all) final chapters, it also has the ****ending****! Who'd've guessed, right?**

_Prom_

APOV

_Jasper screaming, crying, shouting; his face red, his cheeks wet, his eyes desperate…_

I woke up with a start. My dream was so strange. It was…scary. It was of that terrible vision I always forgot, I knew, and though I should have been used to it by now, I wasn't. Each time I dreamt about it, it got worse. It became more frightening. It scared me.

It was still dark out and I knew I needed my rest for Prom, which was that night, and so I lay back down in bed and, to my surprise, it wasn't hard for me to fall asleep again.

_A vision of me, now. Screaming, just like Jasper had, but this was from pain, not from desperation. The vision changed and I found myself looking at a pair of beautiful blue eyes, just like Jasper's…_

I woke again, and this time I knew I could never fall back asleep. And so I got up, got out my sketch pad, and began to draw.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

There was no school today–the school let us take it off to get ready for Prom for some reason–and so I was able to spend the entire day with my sketch book in hand. All of a sudden, I had a strange thought–a thought so bad it made me drop my lucky pencil. Hastily, I scrambled out of bed and hopped in the car to a pharmacy in Port Angeles–so nobody would recognize me–and picked up three pregnancy tests.

JPOV

I woke up and sat up in bed slowly. Something was off. I just couldn't tell what it was.

I looked around. Everything looked the same. I was in my room–my familiar, bland, peach-colored room, and nothing was out of place. The calendar stated that today was the day of Prom, and I wondered to myself if that was the cause of my unease. But somehow I knew it wasn't. There was something else. But what?

I continued to ponder over it as I went to fix myself a bowl of cereal–Peter had been out of business since he started going out with Charlotte, leaving me to make my own breakfast. But I was too lost in thought to care about that. What was it? What was off?

I just could not figure it out, no matter how hard I tried. I didn't want to give up, but eventually, I just had to. There was no hope in finding out on my own, and I could only hope that I would figure it out later that day. _Unless,_ thought my annoying conscious, _it's something bad._

APOV

I was still going to Prom. I would have to tell Jasper face-to-face. I'd sit down with him, and tell him gently, and hope to myself that he'd be okay with it. If not, then I'd get an abortion, tell him it was all a joke and I was just trying to see if he'd be okay with it, and maybe things would go back to normal–whatever normal was these days.

I supposed I was a better actress than I ever gave myself credit for, because when Cynthia finally came home from another trip to La Push, I was completely cool and in control.

"Cynthia," I said smoothly. "What're you doing tonight?"

Cynthia blushed. "I was thinking of going back to La Push," she admitted. "Or staying here and working on my book." _Oh, great,_ I thought. _It's not a story anymore; it's a book._

"Nope," I said cheerily. "You're going to the Prom!"

"The Prom?" Cynthia asked faintly. "Is that tonight?"

"Yes," I said testily. "It's tonight. And you're going."

Cynthia sighed. She knew that there was no point on fighting me on this. "Okay," she said. "Let me just make a call."

_A call?_ I thought curiously. _Who could Cynthia call?_ But I respected my sister's privacy and waited until she returned ten minutes later, with a much more cheerful look on her face. I hurried her into her room and dressed her in the floor-length silver gown, and then I rushed her to the bathroom to do her makeup and hair.

At the end of it, she looked gorgeous, like a raven-haired Cinderella. _Hey_, I thought, amused. _Cinderella _does_ kind of sound like Cynthia…in a way._ They both could have 'Cindy' for a nickname, so I supposed that counted.

I beamed at my work. "You look gorgeous," I said. Cynthia just rolled her eyes, but I could tell she felt glamorous–no one could resist feeling glamorous at Prom, after all–and so I left to go change into my dress, which took less time than changing Cynthia into hers. When I was finished, I was proud of my work, but I knew Cynthia looked better than me. That was the point, after all–to make Cynthia look as good as possible, even if it meant underscoring myself.

Then I drove Cynthia to Prom and turned right back around and back to my house to wait for Jasper, so we could arrive at Prom the old fashioned way–and I could tell him my news.

JPOV

I was dressed in a black tuxedo and dress shirt–one that Maria had insisted on buying for such an occasion. Charlotte and Peter, who were going with each other, had already left for the Prom, while I lingered behind, waiting to see if I could figure out what it was that was off.

"Jasper," came the silky smooth voice that could only belong to Maria. "Hello."

"Hello, Maria," I said slowly as she took a step towards me.

"Listen," she said with a soft, innocent face. "I know how you freaked out after what happened to Grace…" I tensed. What was she getting at? "And so I decided that I ought to warn you before I get rid of the next one."

"The next one?" I said shakily. "You mean…Alice?" I whispered her name.

Maria nodded smugly. "Yeah, that's the one," she said. "I must say, you really do have a type, don't you? Two of exactly the same kind of girl in a row."

"Yes, but there's a difference between Alice and Grace," I said quietly. "Because with Alice, I'm going to kill you first."

Maria smiled; not a good sign. "Is that so?" Fear raced through my veins as I tried to find something to say, but I couldn't, so I just stared at her as I moved slowly and cautiously toward the door.

"Where are you going?" she snapped when she realized what I was doing.

"The Prom," I said simply. I gestured at my clothes. "I've got a suit."

Maria mumbled something unintelligible about the suit, and then she looked me in the eyes and said sinisterly, "Before you go, would you help me with something?"

"Oh," I said with a shrug and a cold glare. "Sorry. I'm already running late."

"But this won't take long at all," Maria took a step toward me. Cold realization flooded through me as I realized that _this_ was it. This was what was different about today. Today was the day Maria would kill Alice, and she was going to force me to watch.

I glanced at the door. _One chance,_ I thought. _One chance to get out and get to Alice. One chance._

I burst toward the door as fast as I could, each step bringing me closer to my Alice. I reached for the doorknob; it was almost in my grasp…

I felt myself falling backwards with a thud. Desperately I reached out for the doorknob; maybe I could break away, but I was dragged away from it quickly. I gave a frantic shout as it faded from view and I was dragged into another room by my ankles, but to no avail.

I felt something on me–a foot, perhaps–that kept me from standing as Maria took my hands and wrapped them tightly in wire. All the while I was screaming, thrashing, trying to get away, but this only made my hands hurt. I didn't care.

Maria yanked me upward so I was standing and leaned me against the wall. To my surprise, my ankles were in the wire as well–I had probably been too occupied to notice. She stared at me with a look of smug satisfaction as she looked me over.

"I would've thought you'd learn from last time, Jasper," she said. "That's why I kept you alive. Otherwise, Emmett would be going to jail; poor thing. He didn't beat you up for no reason, you know. I told him you might be coming by and I taught him how to fight. Great guy; great muscles. Well worth it."

"I love Alice," I snapped. "I loved her where I couldn't love Grace, no matter how much I tried. I won't let you do this to her."

Maria stared at me with cold hatred. "You're seventeen, Jasper," she said.

"Eighteen," I cut in, "actually."

Maria just stared at me a moment. "Fine," she snapped after a while. "That doesn't change the fact that you're a teenager and this is just a phase for you. You're in love with her today, but who's to say you'll still be in a few months? Or a year?" She leaned in close. "You'll be saving yourself the trouble of heartbreak."

"Alice wouldn't do that," I muttered.

"Alice wouldn't do that," Maria mimicked in a high, annoying voice. She rolled her eyes. "Of course she would."

"You know that none of this is helping you," I murmured, looking at the wire on my ankles. "I'm still not going to help you kill her."

"Help?" Maria laughed. "I don't need your help. I need you to cooperate."

"That's not going to happen either," I murmured.

Maria narrowed her eyes. "You think you can tell on me? I'll deny it, say that _you_ did it. They'll send you to jail."

I shook my head. "No," I said quietly.

"They _will_," Maria insisted. "You just got lucky the first time. It was because I pleaded you innocent. Nobody's going to stand up for you, because they all think you've done it before, so why not again?"

I shook my head again. "No. They won't send me to jail, and even if they do, it won't make a difference. I'll kill myself then."

Maria looked furious for some reason. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach where Maria's fist landed, knocking the air out of my lungs. As I struggled to get it back, Maria started talking. "You _won't_ die, Jasper," she snarled. "You _can't_ die. You showed up at my doorstep when I was eighteen. You ruined my life for me. You will not make that all in vain."

By this time, I'd gotten most of my breath back. "Fine," I snapped. "I won't die as long as Alice is still alive."

"Oh, for the love of…" Maria turned away from me for a moment, giving me time to yank on the wire as hard as I could. All it did was cut my wrists a little bit, and Maria spun back to me before I could do anything big. "She's not even dead."

I stopped for a moment, staring. "What?"

"Grace isn't dead," said Maria. "We never killed her."

"What _did_ you do?" I asked slowly.

Maria grinned a Cheshire-cat kind of grin. "I gave her to the government," she said, "and they filled her up with enough tranquilizers to keep her immobilized. They run tests on her, and they try to figure out what causes her visions–you know about visions, don't you?"

I shook my head cautiously and began pulling at the wire again.

"Well, Grace and your _precious_ Alice have something else in common," said Maria. "They can both see the future. Let me ask you something, Jasper. Did Grace or Alice stop what they were doing all of a sudden? Were they nonresponsive? Did they come out of it as if nothing happened? Did they seem to know what was going to happen next?"

I thought of that day in the lunch room where Alice blanked out, and how I'd panicked, and I thought of all the times Grace had done to same, and every time I worried about them. Every time I wondered if they would come out alright. But I knew that 'yes' was the answer Maria wanted to hear, and so I said, "No."

Maria snorted. "I've raised a liar," she muttered to herself. "Anyways, that's what the government pays me for. I collect future-telling weirdo people, and then I give them to the government. The fact that you helped me get two is really amazing–it almost makes you worth your while."

I said nothing, working on the wire on my wrists. "Jasper," Maria leaned close to my face snidely. "Do you know what they do to them when they're done with the tests?" Again, I said nothing; I just stared at her coldly. "They give them to us, and they let us kill them." Maria chuckled to herself. "That's my favorite part."

Anger rushed through me, and instead of lashing out at Maria, I used it to yank at the wire even harder. Maria, noticing, glanced down at my wrists and then back at me. She smiled. "Come now, Jasper," she said. "You'll hurt yourself if you keep doing that."

I let out an angry shout and pulled even harder. I was surprised I didn't fall over. Getting free was the main concern now, though Maria was right in front of me and would probably just tie me up again if I actually did. I only had one more question, though.

"Charlotte and Peter," I said quietly. "What are they here for?"

Maria sighed. "I hoped they would be of more use," she said. "Maybe get you to socialize more so you could find those psychics. But instead they only ended up being as unpopular as you. Such a shame. Maybe I'll kill them soon." I snarled at her and yanked at the wire.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Are you done?" she asked. "Are you finished? Can I get the pixie-girl now?"

"No, you can't get the pixie-girl," I muttered. I hadn't meant to say that out loud, but I had. Maria smiled, amused.

"Now let's see here," she said thoughtfully. "How do I get you to the car?" I let out an angry cry and thrashed at the wire–shouldn't it be broken by now? Maria continued, as if to herself. "Everyone should be at Prom, so I don't think I'll have witnesses…" She disappeared at came back with some duct tape, which she then placed over my mouth. "Just in case," she said.

APOV

Jasper didn't show up. I sat there and I waited for him for half an hour, but he didn't knock on my door. Right when I was about to call him and tell him to hurry up, the doorbell rang. With a sigh of relief, I opened the door. But there was nobody there. Looking down, I saw a note, addressed to me.

I picked it up and opened, taking a step inside, but I left the door open, confused. The letter read,

_Alice,  
I have Jasper. Meet me in the forest by the Cullen's house. Come alone._

That's when I started to panic. The note was made of cut-out letters from a magazine, so I couldn't identify the hand writing. This was bad. Really bad.

I thought about going to the Prom to get help. Sure, it would ruin Cynthia's night, but this was life and death we were talking about here. She'd understand.

But the note said to come alone. It didn't state any consequences, but I knew what they were. If I brought somebody, they'd kill Jasper.

Luckily, before I did anything, I had the sense to think about it. Why would they give this to me? Why not Charlotte or Peter or Maria? I thought of Grace, how I was so much like her. I wondered if this was the same person who kidnapped her. Maybe this was a trick.

So of course I couldn't go alone, and of course I'd leave something behind that would tell people what really happened so Jasper wouldn't get framed again, if this really was a trick. But I would go, just in case it wasn't.

So I quickly wrote a note explaining what happened. I addressed it to Cynthia, because I knew I could trust her, and I taped it to her computer. She'd find it there. "Please let everything be alright," I murmured pleadingly.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

The forest by the Cullen's house was thick and dark. I wandered through it for a while before I came upon a clearing, where I stopped. Somehow I knew this was the place. "Hello?" I called. "Is anyone there?"

I felt a pair of hands over my mouth and I squirmed, trying to get away. But I couldn't. Whoever owned these hands were strong. I suddenly felt very tired, and I didn't think I could fight much longer. Just when I thought I was going to faint, I heard a thud, and the hands removed themselves. I spun around quickly to find the source of what had saved me.

It was Edward.

"Edward?" I gasped. "I thought you'd be at the Prom!"

He shrugged. "I was," he said. "But Bella can't dance." His grin shone through the darkness. "So we decided to come back here. We saw a car, and Jasper was in the trunk–"

"Is he okay?" I interrupted worriedly. Edward nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "He's fine. Not a scratch on him–except on his wrists where he was trying to get free. He told us that she" he pointed to the figure on the ground "was after you, so I ran as fast as I could here."

"Thanks," I said breathlessly. "You saved my life!"

"Anybody would do it," he said. "It's a good thing I'm fast."

"Maybe you're fast, boy," said the figure on the ground as it stood up. "But you're not strong." Edward swore under his breath as the figure revealed itself.

"Maria?" I cried. "It was _you_?"

"Surprised?" asked Maria as she took a sinister step forward. Edward and I started backing up as Maria advanced, but soon we'd be out of room. Then what would we do?

_Clang!_ Again, Maria fell to the ground. Jasper stood behind her, breathing heavily, a metal pole in his arms. "Bitch," he muttered under his breath as he stepped over her body. Then he wrapped his arms around me. "Alice!"

Edward stood there to the side as we hugged for a few minutes, waiting patiently, making sure not to spoil the moment. Then he tapped Jasper's shoulder. "Where's Bella?" he asked.

"With Rosalie and Emmett," Jasper murmured, still hugging me.

The tall blonde beauty and her huge bear-like boyfriend stepped into view with Bella in between them. Emmett eyed the woman on the ground. "Is she dead?" he asked slowly.

"No," Jasper sighed, as if he was disappointed about that. "She's just unconscious."

"What happened to her?" asked Emmett.

"I hit her with a pole," Jasper said quietly. Emmett stared at him for a moment, then said,

"Nice!" _Boys…_ I thought faintly.

"Jasper," I said quietly. "Can I talk to you for a second? Alone?"

He stared at me a moment, then nodded. "Okay."

We walked away the group, who circled around Maria and watched her intensely, as if they expected her to wake up at any moment. "You want to break up with me," said Jasper quietly. I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. "I understand. This is why I didn't want to go out with you in the first place. I totally understand–"

"Jasper," I cut him off this time. "I'm pregnant."

He stared at me. "Really?" he asked softly. I nodded.

"I just found out today," I said. To my surprise, he hugged me. "You're not mad?" I asked cautiously.

"Of course not," he said. "I'm ecstatic!" I stared at him for a moment. This was not how I envisioned he'd react. When he finally discovered my bewilderment, he said, "I always wanted kids."

I still found this odd, but I decided it was better than him leaving me forever, so I shrugged and hugged him back.

Then he got down on one knee, looked me in the eye and said, "Will you marry me?"

I stared at him with bewilderment for a moment, and then said, "Yes."

Third Person Point of View

Jasper and Alice held each other tightly, feeling as if they were one. From a distance, Bella, Rosalie, Edward, and Emmett saw them and smiled to themselves. Out of sheer curiosity, they all sent Bella to go see what was going on.

Cautiously, Bella tapped on Alice's shoulder. "What's going on?" she asked, thinking to herself that she really shouldn't have been the person to do this.

"Alice is pregnant," Jasper explained happily.

"What?"

"And we're getting married," Alice added.

"What?!"

Bella tripped on her way to tell the others. No, Bella really wasn't the person to do this at all.

The six of them were so happy then, they didn't notice Maria wake up and crawl away from them, cursing under her breath and swearing to herself that she would get revenge soon.


	21. Bonus Chapter

**Yes. **_**What I've Done**_** is now done. Kind of sad, isn't it?**

**But don't worry. I'm going to see if I can put together a sequel – one with kids! Yay! Kids are awesome! They're so cute.**

**Anyways, this was my first AH fic. I've read a couple of them myself, and there are a few flaws I find with most of them. A few are:**

**Jasper lives with the Cullens. (What about Charlotte and Peter?)**

**Jasper, Edward, and Emmett are friends (Before they were turned, they don't know each other at all, actually)**

**Edward has gold eyes (not that common, actually, but that is a big NO)**

**Jasper and Rosalie are twins (The Cullens claim that, but they are NOT. They're about 50 years apart)**

**Carlisle and Edward are friends (I know I put that in, but they weren't before his mom got sick)**

**I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. I tried to make this as accurate to Twilight as possible, meaning to make sure that everything was as it was when they were human–you know, just in the ****future****!**

**I want to thank all my reviewers – past, present, and future ones. Every review I get is treasured so much.**

**If I make a sequel–which I plan to do after I get back from Texas–it will be where everything in Twilight comes together. Meaning a lot of deaths, I'm afraid. I may post a chapter that states the title of the story so you can find it easily, so if there is a chapter after this, that is it.**

**I ****don't**** want to get sued, but I'm far too lazy to put a disclaimer in every single chapter, so I always put in the Bonus Chapter, such as this. And it goes like this.**

_**DISCLAIMER:**_ In the past twenty chapters, I own absolutely nothing except the plot. I own the physical descriptions of Charlotte, Peter, Maria, and Cynthia as well, as well as Alice's hobby–drawing–even though I, myself, cannot do it very well. In chapter six there were three songs–songs I also do not own. These songs are owned by Paramore, Rhianna, and Death Cab for Cutie. Also, in chapter eleven there is a song, called Tiny Vessels that I also do not own. It is owned by Death Cab for Cutie as well. Oh, and in chapter ten, there is a song called What I've Done, which I also do not own. Linkin Park does. Oh, yeah, I also own Grace. But other than her, all the characters were invented by Stephanie Meyer, and though I would have loved to have created them, I did not. So sad.

**And that is my disclaimer. PLEASE do not sue me if I forgot something!!!!**

**Stay tuned for a sequel, which I may start before I go to Texas, but not put up so you don't have to go through two weeks of suspense.**

**Thanks for reading, everybody!!!**


	22. Sequel

**I'm back from Texas! It was hot, but it rained! Hurray! If you're wondering if my trip was worth the two-week delay, then, simply to put your busy minds to rest, it was. The only strange part is that I found of one of my cousins is named Grace. Woops.**

**Okay! The reason this amazingly short chapter exists is to inform you that there is a ****sequel**** up for this story, called **_**Plans**_**.**

**Because I have nothing else to talk about, I will tell you how I came upon the name. I had two weeks to figure out what to call the sequel. I know I wanted to call it the name of a song–hopefully one by Death Cab. The first week, I didn't even go anywhere, so I simply read other fics for a little while; tried to work on Madam Carlisle but couldn't bring myself to; laid low for a little while. I didn't even search for a title, either. I thought I should do another form of the title **_**What I've Done**_**, like **_**What I Will Do**_** or **_**What I'm Doing**_**. But after a while, I decided I didn't like that idea.**

**I didn't really start thinking about titles until halfway through the second week of my absence–when I was in Texas and among a seven-year-old, an eight-year-old, and an eleven-year-old. I started thinking of Death Cab songs, seeing if I could find a title that fit. I got "When We Laugh Indoors," "Quelling Fears," which is a part of the song "When We Laugh Indoors," and a bit from a song by a band named Guster–a band I've known for as long as I can remember–called "Manifest Destiny." I was going to call it "Ganging Up on the Sun," like the last album I've heard them make before they disappeared for a little while.**

**But none of these titles for the story, and I found myself with absolutely nothing as I drove home (I didn't **_**drive**_**, though). I looked out the window in slight despair, and then, a song came into my mind, the only song I really memorized on the piano. **_**And it came to me then that every plan was a tiny prayer to Father Time.**_

**And so I thought of Death Cab's album, Plans, and I thought it suited the story quite well.**

**Anyway, I can't post a link to it, so if you want to find it, click on my profile, Uxiegirl, and scroll down to the very bottom until you find a story labeled Plans.**

**Thanks, everybody! Love you all!**


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